Gen. Museveni disembarks from $50 million Gulf Stream jet he bought with stolen foreign aid money. U.S. still sends $1 billion annually.
[Commentary]
Taxation without representation sparked the American Revolution and threw out the British yoke of colonialism.
Those who impose taxes upon people who have no say in how government operates should beware. Especially when the regime doesn’t represent the best interest of the people.
Ugandans need only ask themselves three critical interrelated questions.
Does government represent me?
Does this Parliament represent (or even care about) my interests?
Is Gen. Yoweri Museveni, the U.S.-backed dictator who gets over $1 billion per year in American taxpayers’ money, the legitimate duly elected president of Uganda?
If the answers to these questions are no, then it means every Ugandan is obligated to do anything within his or her power to protect against harm –This includes the potential damages from Gen. Museveni’s social media tax.
The majority in Parliament have already shown that they do not care about the interests of most Ugandans.
Ugandans last year polled 85%, overwhelmingly, in rejection of Life-Presidency. Yet, the dictator’s puppet Parliament rejected the wishes of Ugandans and removed from the Constitution the only remaining guarantor against tyranny; the age-75 ceiling.
This was done for the benefit of the current dictator who has been in power for 32 years.
The same Constitution was first gravely assaulted and violated in 2005, when Gen. Museveni who monopolizes the capacity to commit violence by operating the military and police forces like a family militia, coerced Parliament into removing the presidential term limits.
The Constitution is the soul and heart of any nation. Members of Parliament accepted $8,000 to plunge a dagger into the hearts of Ugandans.
It was a betrayal that Ugandans must not take lightly. They must never forget. They must talk to loved ones, friends, relatives –they must ask each other ‘What must we do about this betrayal?’
Gen. Museveni stole the elections of 2016 and previous ones to that. His handpicked sham election commission chief Badru Kiggundu, and the justices of the Supreme Court, may one day get to provide Ugandans with details.
Therefore, Gen. Museveni is illegitimate; he’s not authorized to carry out any Presidential powers including signing bills into law, commanding the armed forces, making appointments and negotiating with foreign governments and multilateral institutions on behalf of Uganda.
However, today’s pressing issue is the Museveni social media tax. Apart from the egregious notion that a government led by an illegitimate President and a Parliament that is not representative of the wishes of the majority want to impose additional tax burden on the people, what about the issue of corruption?
Gen. Museveni himself and his Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa are implicated in an ongoing bribe-and-money-laundering case in U.S. federal court in New York.
Gen. Museveni’s own former minister Zoe Bakoko revealed to the U.S. authorities when she was granted asylum and in a media interview with me that the Museveni regime’s elite stole $5 million per month from the national social security fund.
So why should Ugandans entrust such a corrupt and heartless regime with any additional revenue from any new sources including Museveni’s social media tax?
If the dictator’s priorities are to buy tanks and jet fighters for his military so he can invade countries like Congo and South Sudan and buy a new multi-million dollars Gulf Stream jet for himself -while hospitals have no medicines and doctors and teachers aren’t paid–should Ugandans really allow this regime to collect an extra shilling in taxes?
Ugandans are well aware of the conditions in hospitals around the country and there are no shortage of shameful examples that would cause a human being with a modest level of conscience to resign — including the case of a hospital where one hospital is so resource constrained that dead bodies aren’t removed from hospital beds for days.
Gen. Museveni is a man with no conscience.
Had the regime been able to create new jobs or train the young with marketable skills youth unemployment would not be at 85% and there would be other sources of revenue.
Gen. Museveni’s desperate social media platform tax is manifestation of his failures.
Why should Gen. Museveni penalize Ugandans with additional burdens? Isn’t 32 years of tyranny enough punishment on Uganda already?
Ugandans must resist Taxation without representation. They must ask each other–‘What will we do about this betrayal?”
