Government to refund Shs2b withholding tax to sugarcane farmers- Museveni

Sugarcane farmers in Busoga Sub-region have reason to smile after receiving assurance from President Museveni that Government will refund about Shs2b which they had remitted in withholding tax.
Mr Museveni was on Tuesday evening meeting political leadership and sugarcane farmers from Busoga Sub-region at Jinja State Lodge to find solutions for the decreasing sugarcane prices.
However, he had earlier met sugarcane out growers in a separate meeting in which he was quoted by the chairperson Busoga out growers’ Association, Mr Isa Budhugo.
According to Mr Budhugo, about 6,000 farmers, all from Kakira alone, are looking forward to that refund.

“Personally, I have remitted Shs10m in withholding tax; why shouldn’t I be happy if it is being refunded? The president has promised us tractors and funding to travel to India and Mauritius for benchmarking; why shouldn’t I be happy?” Mr Budhugo said on Wednesday.
He added that he is already working on the necessary paperwork which he will submit to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Amelia Kyambadde.
Mr Museveni, in his speech that lasted two hours, urged locals to discourage investors from constructing on wetlands because ‘they are wetlands and should be left as they are’.
He added that factories that have already been built on wetlands should be studied carefully, but no new factories should be constructed.

“We have to study it very carefully because if a factory has already been built, breaking it is not a good idea; instead, water channels can be built around it while we discourage new factories on wetlands,” he said.
Mr Museveni urged sugar factories to work hard and start producing high quality sugar that can be used in manufacturing coated drugs [syrups] for children and sodas, other than importing them from other countries.
According to Mr Museveni, there are low returns on production of milk and bananas whose prices are dropping; however, “there are plans on how to manage; so people should not panic about it.”

Stops income tax
The President also directed Uganda Revenue Authority [URA] to stop collecting income tax from private schools, referring to the levy as ‘improper’.

“Let the rich take their children to private schools,” he directed.
“Owners of private schools pay this tax through construction materials purchased and charging them again is illegal,” he said, warning head teachers under Universal Primary Education [UPE] programme against asking parents to pay any money under the guise of ‘motivating teachers’.

“Government came up with this [UPE] programme to help poor parents who need not to be asked to pay anything at school again.
“Those parents collaborating with some Head teachers to charge extra fees in these schools should transfer their children to other schools and leave those for poor parents,” he said.
He added that he would soon discuss with party members for punitive measures against errant Head teachers charging money in UPE and USE schools.
He further lashed out at political leaders for their laxity in promoting UPE and USE programmes in the region, saying they instead leave school head teachers to charge fees from parents, all that has led to children dropping out of schools.

“The level of literacy is 77 per cent, with 8.8 million children enrolling in primary schools and 1.6 million in secondary schools; but what happened to others? They have been blocked by fees charged by head teachers and PTAs [Parent Teachers’ Associations] while the [district] chairpersons keep quiet,” he said.
Also in attendance was the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Mr Vincent Ssempijja, incoming State Minister for agriculture, Mr Aggrey Henry Bagiire, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, NRM Secretary General, Ms Justine Kasule Lumumba and district chairpersons from Busoga Sub-region.

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