Museveni should remember these words as he piles taxes on the poor

Statistics can be very interesting. Individuals running Uganda use them to tell us they are doing a good job. But statistics can contradict and make complete nonsense of what technocrats and the government are telling us about the progress they are making in managing the country.

On April 15, Daily Monitor, citing a survey conducted by the Bank of Uganda, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and aBi Finance Limited, which provides credit to agribusinesses, reported that 17.2 million Ugandans out of the 24.6 million adult population rely on family and friends, personal savings and borrowing to manage shortages.

Some of these people are employed and pay tax on their monthly income, widely known as PAYE. Any Ugandan earning above Shs 235,000 is supposed to pay this tax, and it is paid to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) by the employer on behalf of the employee.

A receptionist, for example, making Shs 450,000 has to pay 30 percent of their income, which leaves them with Shs 315,000. This money — even if you have only yourself to cater for, even if you live in a country with a low cost of living like Uganda — is pretty much nothing.

Of course, taxes have to be paid by the poor and the rich. They are inevitable and are like birth, death and change. Governments have to tax people and businesses to provide social services and public goods such as security.

But does the government really think about the poor when it is imposing taxes? If President Museveni was earning Shs450,000 and had to remit 30 percent to URA, would he view this as fair?

Mr Museveni should remember the words he wrote in his autobiography, Sowing the Mustard Seed, about his life in Tanzania, which is the life millions of Uganda lead today. 

I first saw those words in June 2014. They were written by a reader who had commented on a Daily Monitor story about Mr Museveni advising Ugandans to develop a saving culture. 

The President had said that “when I speak about saving money, I know what I am talking about because I began saving money from the age of 21 years”. 

He went on: “It is that money that turned me into the rich man I am today.”

Then the reader, citing a paragraph he said was on Page 87–88 in Mr Museveni’s autobiography, wrote: “...At that time we were living in Kurasini, a suburb of Dar es Salaam, and we were so short of funds that our electricity had been cut off for non-payment of the bill.”

The reader added: “In fact, we were not able to restore it until Muhoozi [President’s son] was three months old. You should have seen the jumps and laughs when the lights first came on! He had never seen a light bulb before. It was clear to me that I needed to get immediate employment to stop my new young family from starving.”

The reader was basically wondering whether Mr Museveni has always been financially secure, as he was claiming.

After reading the reader’s comment, I opened my own copy of Sowing the Mustard Seed and went to Pages 87–88. I did not see the words on these pages but found them on Page 89. 

Mr Museveni may not know, but Ugandans who have to remit 30 percent of their pittance to URA live in much the same way as he did in Tanzania. They actually need financial assistance to manage the cost of living. Taxes levied on them should be fair.

Mr Musaazi Namiti is a journalist and former
Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected]    @kazbuk