District officials in Masaka, Uganda, are seeking ways of calming down fishermen protesting against a new tax that they perceive as a ploy to fund the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
According to fisheries officials in Kyesiiga sub-county, fishermen have rejected the fish movement permits amid rumours that the money is meant to fund NRM.
It is better the authorities found another name for that tax because it is likely to impact negatively on the party (NRM) in the fishing communities, said Vincent Kyeyune, an LC-I chairman for Mageege village in Kyesiiga sub-county.
The tax, imposed in 2003 under the Fish Act, set a levy of Shs 10 and Shs 20 per kilogramme for fresh and processed (smoked) fish respectively. The levy is intended to help authorities to trace the origin of the fish and the revenues accruing from the levy are to be shared between the district and the sub-county local administrations.
The district takes 35% of the money while the sub-county takes 65%. Kyesiiga sub-county has some of the biggest fish landing sites, contributing up to Shs10m to the district’s annual revenue collections. District authorities called for a meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.
However, the meeting failed to take off after it emerged that some in the local leadership are opposed to the collection of the tax. The local leadership, largely comprising NRM supporters, is concerned that the movement tax will cost them the next elections.
Many fishermen are saying that they can’t make contributions to a party that they don’t support, Kyeyune told the meeting.
But the district fisheries officer, Tom Bukenya, says it may be difficult for the district to change the name of the tax since it requires a lengthy legal process.
As a district, we can’t do much about it because this is a tax that was established by a parliamentary statute, which means that changing the name requires us to petition Parliament, which [means we] will have to go through various processes and procedures, he told the meeting.
2012 Observer Media Ltd.