• There were simulated explosions, smoke, blank gunfire, fire, and traffic disruptions in the areas surrounding the embassy and Rosslyn Academy.
• The drill caused panic in the area as some mistook it for a real attack.
President Yoweri Museveni accused the sites of “arrogance” for “siding” with the opposition in the January 2021 presidential poll.
KAMPALA, Uganda — Joshua Tigerson, 21, from Nsambya, a suburb Uganda's capital, Kampala, was one of the many happy social media users who celebrated when the government abolished the over-the-top services tax on July 1, 2021.
Commonly referred to as the social media tax, the government imposed the tax in 2018. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, said it was to curb online “gossip.”
Ugandan social media users were to pay about Sh200 [$0.055] per day to access any of more than 60 social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.
Following two years of public outcry, the government repealed the tax, claiming that the Uganda Revenue Authority had failed to meet its over-the-top services tax collections targets.
However, social media users who hoped the government would lift restrictions on Facebook and Twitter still require Virtual Private Networks to use these platforms.
“Facebook and Twitter help me make money online,” Tigerson told IEA.
“I sell designer African clothes, and I easily reach out to my customers through these platforms, but since the government introduced the social media tax, few people have been buying my products. I was happy when the government removed it, but I can't easily access Facebook or Twitter.”
Uganda's strict rules on social media are radically discouraging users. The number of those accessing Facebook per month has reduced from 57.96 percent in August 2020 to just 6.08 percent a year later, according to Statcounter.
Over the same period, Twitter users increased from 13.18 percent to a high of 68. 4 in July 2021, before dropping to 62. 59 a month later.
Ugandans switched to Virtual Private Networks to avoid paying taxes to the government since they operate outside the purview of government controls.
They gained prominence in Uganda among local journalists and political activists in 2016 when the government briefly blocked Twitter and Facebook in the lead-up to the presidential polls.
The use of Virtual Private Networks became widespread after introducing the social media tax in 2018, despite several futile government attempts to block them.
For the 2018/2019 financial year, the government hoped to collect Sh284 billion [$80.5 million] from the social media tax, but in July 2019, the Uganda Revenue Authority said it had collected only Sh49.5 billion [$12.7 million], a shortfall of 83 percent.
The Excise Duty Amendment Act, 2021, repealed the Over The Top tax and replaced it with a 12 percent excise duty on internet data, which Ugandans pay every time they buy data bundles.
Under the revised scheme, the government hopes to collect up to $170 million annually to “enable the country to achieve industrialization for inclusive growth, employment, and wealth creation,” said Amos Lugoloobi, State Minister for Planning, who presented the Financial Year 2021/22 budget on June 14.
However, regulators still want to shut down the hard-to-crack Virtual Private Networks.
Minister of Information, Communication and Technology and National Guidance, Chris Baryomunsi, said the government is in talks with Facebook's managers over its return.
“We're having with these people and others social media platforms,” he told IEA.
“The social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter will remain closed until we agree on the fundamentals. During our general election campaigns last year, our government began to ask questions”
“We asked why a privately-owned platform like Facebook should become partisan and accuse the [ruling] National Resistance Movement party of everything and even erase accounts of our leaders and members, including our ministry. That's when we decided to cut it off since we weren't dying to have Facebook in Uganda.”
Analysts say the government thinks most Ugandans use social media for propaganda against it and therefore try to limit their access as much as possible.
Disagreements between the Ugandan government and Facebook predate the 2016 general elections.
As early as 2013, the government had pressed Facebook to reveal the true identity of a famous anonymous blogger known as Tom Voltaire Okwalinga, commonly known as TVO to many Ugandans.
The EU must show that Brexit has been“damaging” to the UK, the French prime minister has told Brussels in a letter calling for support for tougher actions over the Channel fishing dispute.
Jean Castex wrote a letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday setting out reasons why the EU should act against Britain over the limited granting of licences for French fishermen to operate in British waters post-Brexit.
He wrote that the EU had to make clear that “leaving the union is more damaging than remaining in it”.
Paris is threatening to increase checks on British boats, stop them landing in French ports, slow customs arrangements in Calais and increase tariffs on energy bills in Jersey from Tuesday unless French fishermen are granted more licences to British waters around Jersey and Guernsey.
A translation of Mr Castex’s letter says: “The uncooperative attitude of the United Kingdom today risks not only causing great harm to fishermen, mainly French, but also for the [European] union, in that it sets a precedent for the future and challenges our credibility and our ability to assert our rights with regard to international commitments signed by the union.
“It therefore seems necessary for the European Union to show its total determination to obtain full respect for the agreement by the United Kingdom and to assert its rights by using the levers at its disposal in a firm, united and proportionate manner.
“It is essential to clearly show to European public opinion that respect for subscribed engagement is non-negotiable and that there is more damage in leaving the union than in remaining there.”
Mr Castex continued in his letter: “If no satisfactory solution is found in this context, the European Union will have to apply Article 506 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and take corrective measures, in a manner proportionate to the economic and social damage resulting from the breaches.”
He suggested to Ms Von der Leyen that they could impose “customs duties on certain fishery products” as punishment.
The “restoration of trust” lies upon the UK granting French fishermen more fishing licences, his letter also says.
Boris Johnson has said that he would “do whatever is necessary to ensure UK interests” if France carries out its threats over the licences.
He said that the Anglo-French relationship was undergoing “turbulence” and that the French authorities’ decision to impound a British fishing vessel may have broken international law.
Mr Johnson will meet with French president Emmanuel Macron over the weekend at the G20 summit in Rome for their first face-to-face encounter in four months – after both sides have been accusing each other of breaching the Brexit agreement.
The PM, who arrived in Rome last night, responded to the French threats by saying: “We fear that there may be a breach in terms of the Trade Co-operation Agreement implicit in what’s happening. We will standby to take the appropriate action.”
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Macron suggested that the UK’s “credibility” was at stake over the dispute.
He told the newspaper: “When you spend years negotiating a treaty and then a few months later you do the opposite of what was decided on the aspects that suit you the least, it is not a big sign of your credibility.” By Lamiat Sabin, The Independent/Yahoo News
Photo: Twitter @EFFSouthAfrica
The EFF contested its first-ever local government elections in 2016. The party managed to bring in 8% of the votes nationally. Now, just days before the 2021 elections, Julius Malema has decided to weigh in on a topic he’s spoken about several times before: White people.
The EFF held its closing rally in Katlehong in Ekurhuleni on Friday. With party supporters coming out in their numbers and the ANC failing to deal with an energy crisis, the red berets are feeling very optimistic.
But while Malema has received plenty of criticism for stoking racial tensions, he says people are getting him all wrong. And that people are misinterpreting his love for black people, as hatred for other races.
“My declaration for my undying love for Black people must never be confused with hatred for white people. White people stop pretending. You hear me properly. I speak in your language. Don’t be scared of equality because we are not anti-white but seek equality.”
EFF leader Julius Malema
While Malema’s latest comments are unlikely to bring in many white voters to the party before Monday, in 2018 he described white people as being “like trees”.
“Mama wanted the land and she said she did not want the madness of driving white people over the sea. We say that all the time in the EFF, but it does not suit the narrative of those that own the media.
“We want white people, there is no problem with white people. White people have naturalised here. They are like our trees and mountains; like our nature.”
With that all cleared up, and a promise to deliver land and jobs now, do you think the EFF will get above 15% in the coming week? Source: The South African
REUTERS
KHARTOUM, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Sudanese military forces tightened security in the capital on Saturday ahead of planned nationwide protests to demand the restoration of a civilian-led government to put the country back on a path to democracy after a coup.
Thousands of Sudanese have already taken to the streets this week to protest against General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ousting Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's cabinet in a takeover that led Western states to freeze hundreds of millions in aid.
In central Khartoum there was a heavy military deployment of armed troops that included the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Security forces had blocked roads leading to the defence ministry complex and the airport, as well as most of the bridges connecting Khartoum with its twin cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North.
With at least 11 protesters killed in clashes with security forces, opponents fear a full-blown crackdown.
"The army should go back to its barracks and give the leadership to Hamdok," said an activist who gave his name as Mohamed, who plans to protest. "Our demand is a civilian country, a democratic country, nothing less than that."
In local neighbourhoods, protest groups blocked roads overnight with stones, bricks, tree branches and plastic pipes to try to prevent any attempts by security forces to enter.
In some streets there are makeshift barricades every 30-40 metres. “We will be on the streets to call for democracy,” said one activist who asked not to be named.
A 75-year-old man who gave his name as Moatez and was walking the streets searching for bread said normal life had been brought to a complete halt in Khartoum. “Why did Burhan and the army put the country in this crisis? They could solve the problem without violence,” he said.
The United States, which is calling for the restoration of the civilian-led government, said how the army reacted would be a test of its intentions.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sudan’s security forces must respect human rights and any violence against peaceful demonstrators was "unacceptable".
The United States continues to stand with "Sudan’s people in their nonviolent struggle for democracy", he said on Twitter.
The U.N. Special Representative in Sudan, Volker Perthes, said he remained in constant contact with all sides to facilitate a political solution.
'NO FEAR'
With internet and phone lines restricted by the authorities, opponents of the coup have sought to mobilise for the protest using fliers, SMS messages, graffiti, and neighbourhood rallies.
Neighbourhood-based resistance committees, active since the uprising against deposed President Omar al-Bashir that began in December 2018, have been central to organising despite the arrests of key politicians.
Bashir, who ran Sudan for nearly three decades, was forced out by the army following months of protests against his rule.
Khartoum committee activist Hussam Ibnauf he was confident of a big turnout. There was now "no fear factor", he said.
Burhan has said he removed the cabinet to avert civil war after civilian politicians stoked hostility to the armed forces.
He says he is still committed to a democratic transition, including elections in July 2023.
Hamdok, an economist, was initially held at Burhan's residence when soldiers rounded up the government on Monday, but was allowed to return home under guard on Tuesday.
The U.S. State Department official said he was, however, still under house arrest and unable to resume his work.
The U.S. official said tens of billions of dollars of debt relief sought by Sudan would not happen as long as the army was attempting to direct Sudan unilaterally.
The United States and the World Bank have already frozen assistance to Sudan, where an economic crisis has seen shortages of food and medicine and where nearly a third of the population are in need of urgent humanitarian support.
Several mediation efforts have emerged but there has been no sign of progress towards a compromise.
• There were simulated explosions, smoke, blank gunfire, fire, and traffic disruptions in the areas surrounding the embassy and Rosslyn Academy.
• The drill caused panic in the area as some mistook it for a real attack.
Informer East Africa is a UK based diaspora Newspaper. It is a unique platform connecting East Africans at home and abroad through news dissemination. It is a forum to learn together, grow together and get entertained at the same time.
To advertise events or products, get in touch by info [at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447957636854.
If you have an issue or a story, get in touch with the editor through editor[at] informereastafrica [dot] com or call +447886544135.
We also accept donations from our supporters. Please click on "donate". Your donations will go along way in supporting the newspaper.