MPs who earn millions want taxpayers to meet their daily OTT tax of Shs 200

Parliament is set spend over Shs 190 million to buy data bundles and Over the Top Tax (OTT Tax) annually for all legislators.

According to a letter accessed by this website, Parliament will pay Shs 30,000 for monthly 5GB of data and monthly OTT of Shs 6,000 for each of the 458 Members of Parliament which is UGX 197.8 million in total annually.

OTT is only shs 200 per day or 6,000 monthly.

On average MPs earn Shs 25 million per month in salary and other allowances.

Therefore OTT of Shs 6,000 would constitute 0.024% of their monthly pay.

According to the bid documents displayed in the document, MTN Uganda emerged as the best bidder with other Telecom players eliminated in the bidding process.

A section of MPs have defended this noting that it is right for Parliament of to pay for their OTT and internet bundles since the work they are doing is for the people.

The Woman MP for Kakumiro, Robinah Nabbanja said that they are working for Ugandans and it is right for the House to provide OTT and internet bundles for them to perform Parliament business on their I-pads.

" We are working for Ugandans. MPs can put data and pay for their own OTT on their personal phones but for the parliament business, we are not supposed to inject our money,: she told journalists.

Parliament approved the tax on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp in May, 2018 in a move that was widely criticsed by sections of the public.

At the time,  some of the MPs that supported the move said that it was intended to create more revenue streams for the country to reduce our reliance on donors.

Now, many rely so much on foreign donations but rather collect domestic revenue to support government programs.

Other legislators however argued that it was meant to curtail the right to information.