You wouldn’t have taxed social media, if you knew about my ‘small laptop’

Alexander Kyokwijuka

What you need to know:

  • And once the little money collected is put to good use, if my Rwakitura friend could think of engaging some young innovative social media experts to find ways of improving governance and service delivery thorough social media, we would be much, much better. Re-think my friend!

It has been a while since I last wrote to you. Congratulations on your wedding, we enjoyed it. While you were away for honeymoon, word from the corridors of power revealed that we may be headed for a new tax levied on the use of social media. And indeed, subsequent reports have confirmed that this new tax is in the offing. I, therefore, thought of writing to you about my “small laptop”, with which I was able to use social media, which opened doors for me to the global village.

In my A-Level long vacation, I was somewhere in Kabale teaching when one of my uncles met me and intimated to me that his elder brother (Charles Mugisha) would be happy to see me since he (Charles) had been a close associate of my late father when he was still in school. I was given Charles’ email address, and on the following day, I was on a bicycle to Kabale town to open an email address for the first time and send my very first email. In the email, I introduced myself to my uncle, and scanned my picture too and attached (of course with the help of the Internet Café attendant).

That evening, I received my first international call from my UK–based uncle. That evening, I felt like an international star. And things of technological advancement started making more sense to me than before. Soon I would join Makerere University and would get a chance to learn about things like Facebook, and later Twitter. It was also part of the educational experience for students at Makerere University to have some web browsing and computer usage knowledge. University computer resources were definitely not enough and we would fidget to access with limited time, and so we had not the luxury of exploring Facebook and many of us stopped at opening the account.

My UK-based uncle handed me a brand new Asus notebook (which I could only describe as a small laptop for better clarity) on his visit to Kampala. My new asset opened doors for me to explore the world beyond my small villages Kigarama and Mitchell Hall. I could now browse the Internet, explore Facebook and send a friend request to personalities like Thierry Henry (my football Idol). I also would open a Facebook page. I was now able to express myself on the discourse of Uganda on my Facebook wall, contribute to discussions by some of the key social figures by commenting on their Facebook posts. I would go to YouTube and watch speeches by Obama, Martin Luther, and Abraham Lincoln (some of my leadership idols). Such is the kind of life that my “small laptop” brought to me.

Social media kept advancing and I remember I started Youth Aid Africa as a Facebook page. I later learnt that the founder of Facebook was a young man whose net worth was in billions of dollars. Most important is that his product (Facebook) had opened space for me to fly. I later learnt about Twitter, which was equally good. I got to twitter too and life became more interesting. One day, al-Jazeera liked and re-tweeted my twit - that is when I felt the power and potential of social media. Social media empowered me.

Just like myself, there are many other people who have been empowered by social media and found space and freedom to be part of the development discourse in Uganda. From tracing missing children, to breaking news about the wrongs in society, to creating awareness. Through social media channels like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Viber, organisations such as Youth Aid Africa, have sprouted and grown.

My first international travel opportunity was triggered by an opinion I shared on my Facebook wall. And indeed, social media has helped many young people to grow their ideas into entities. Businesses like Brookings Institute, among others, have created a client base through social media and multitudes have benefitted from their trainings. On a sad note, however, this is at the same time when the government has slapped new taxes on social media platforms to stop what my other Rwakitura friend has called lugambo (gossip).

Whereas I appreciate that the proposed tax on social media is projected to enable government raise between Shs400b and Shs1.4 trillion from social media users annually, I am also aware that my other Rwakitura friend has not explored the many other innovative opportunities that come with the wide usage of social media. Had he not been preoccupied with other “pressing” security matters, he would appreciate that social media can enhance high level democratic governance and improve service delivery to the wanainchi.

In my opinion (and this is what I would tell my other Rwakitura friend if he was not pre-occupied with his other “pressing” issues affecting Ugandans), Uganda’s biggest challenge is not a narrow tax base. There is so much tax paid by Ugandans in terms of PAYE, VAT, Import duty, stamp duty, Graduated Tax, Rental Tax, Property Tax, Environmental Tax, Parking fees, Excise Duty, Incorporation Tax, Investment Tax, stamp duty, Hotel and Lodges Tax, Local Service Tax, among others.

Uganda is not so big that the taxes paid cannot sufficiently serve the purpose, if we were to ensure value for money in our expenditures as government. Ugandans are not so complicated people that they require so much to be done in order to appreciate the services of the government; you can mention all the realities on the ground. Uganda is faced with one big problem, and that is misuse of taxpayers’ money. My friend, I think that social media can actually be used to cut costs on communication and service delivery, among other items.

And once the little money collected is put to good use, if my Rwakitura friend could think of engaging some young innovative social media experts to find ways of improving governance and service delivery thorough social media, we would be much, much better. Re-think my friend!
Until my next note, greetings from Kigarama.

Mr Kyokwijuka is the executive director at Youth Aid Africa. [email protected]