Uganda Telecoms Warned On Economy Exploitation

President Yoweri Museveni yesterday stated that the business stakeholders in the country must have a win-win situation without exploitation of the economy and citizens so as to avoid complaints between the citizens and foreign investors.

The government has been experiencing a problem of people cheating government taxes and also under declaring calls, the government then bought its own machines to monitor this thus making it vividly clear that people were cheating tax.

According to the Ugandan President, it is crucial to float shares on the local stock exchange so as to allow local ownership since the license will be renewed.

In a meeting held yesterday between the government and the MTN Group Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter, in Switzerland, President Museveni was clearly annoyed by the fact that telecom companies are exploiting vulnerable Ugandan citizens by not value adding their products but instead extending ‘talking’ services that have led to a great leakage of foreign currency in the country.

The existence of IT in Africa needs to be paid attention to as it can end up as a problem. According to Museveni, there is need to provide a service for people to talk while creating wealth but however telecoms in Uganda take money out of the country and leak the little money that the country earns through exportation. This leads to trade deficits thereby exploiting and greatly affecting the country’s economy. Museveni wishes that more locally owned companies should be allowed to earn money so that most of it remains in Uganda to ensure economic development.

The President clarified on the government’s commitment to ban foreign betting companies, which have accumulated a lot of money that is taken out of the country because of governments open policy. He also said that there should be smart ways of handling this matter thereby ensuring that at least 70% including taxes stays in the country so as to create a conducive economy for Uganda as a country.