District boss, councillors clash over tax directive

Kalungu District leaders have clashed over a presidential directive stopping collection of daily dues from food vendors and other informal businesses operating on roadsides and open places.

Mr Richard Kyabaggu, the district chairperson, said daily dues should only apply to vendors operating in gazetted markets.

However, the district speaker, Mr Abdul Bbaale, together with a section of councillors, insist that exempting some vendors from paying local revenue may cripple service delivery at both parish and sub-county levels.

In his July 22, 2017 letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Museveni said informal business groups such as food vendors, gonja (roasted plantain), and maize sellers as well as taxi operators should only pay annual licences, not daily dues to allow them operate without hindrance.
Mr Kyabaggu said the district has no justification for failing to enforce the directive.

“The President issued this directive some years back but we failed to enforce it. When he [Museveni] met all the district chairpersons at State House recently, he cautioned us against imposing heavy taxes on poor vendors who are trying to work hard to improve their household incomes,” he said during an interview on Saturday.

Mr Kyabuggu said all the parish chiefs and tax collectors are obliged to implement the directive and whoever is found collecting the dues from vendors will be charged.

An estimated 300 roadside vendors are said to be operating in various towns in the district, including Kalungu, Lukaya, Lwabenge and Kyamuliibwa.
They pay a daily fee between Shs500 and Shs1,000 depending on one’s business.

“We respect what the President said, but this issue [of dues] is very sensitive in a way that parishes and sub-counties use the revenue to run their activities,” Mr Bbaale said.

In the 2019/2020 district budget amounting to Shs23b, 95 per cent of the money is expected to come from central government and only 5 per cent is generated from local revenue.

In the neighbouring Masaka District, some unscrupulous leaders have also continued to ask for daily dues from vendors.

The vendors say those who collect dues from them, especially at night, do not issue receipts, but rather small chits.

Vendors

An estimated 300 roadside vendors are said to be operating in various towns in the district, including; Kalungu, Lukaya, Lwabenge and Kyamuliibwa.
They pay a daily fee between Shs500 and Shs1,000 depending on one’s business.

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