At the event, held at Sheraton Hotel, Kampala (Lake Room), the Hon. Minister applauded PRAU for being a strong association in Uganda and promised to support PRAU in tabling a draft bill for statutory recognition.

He also stated that PR was important in the brand building of several businesses and therefore the association was doing the right thing in promoting the profession in Uganda.

Finally, Hon. Minister tasked the new Governing Council to set up a permanent home for the association and organize a fundraising event where partners and sponsors would commit their support in helping build a PRAU Headquarters.

The new Governing Council was elected during the Association’s 41st Annual General Meeting, held on Saturday 1st September 2018 at Fairway Hotel in Kampala.

Ms. Sarah Kagingo, Managing Director of Soft Power Communications LLC, who was sworn in as President, promised to lead the new Governing Council to pursue statutory recognition, improve media and external stakeholder relations, form strategic alliances with PRAU’s sister associations, champion the formation of a fully functional secretariat, increase membership of the association, get a PRAU permanent home, among others.

Other officials who were sworn in included Eddie Oketcho as Secretary General; Sheila Naturinda Deputy Secretary-General; Charles Nsamba, Treasurer; Sumin Namaganda as Director of Programmes; Alfred Geresom Musamali as Director of Discipline; Kezia Koburungi and Roland Ssebuliba as the new student representatives.

The PRAU Vice President, Valery Okecho and PRAU Director PR, Simon Kasyate were absent with apologies.

The Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) is the umbrella public relations body of Uganda having been set up to uplift the standards in and promote the public relations profession in the country. Membership is open to all PR and communications practitioners, business enterprises, SMEs, government bodies, PR agencies, NGO’s, students pursuing PR related courses and in-house PR departments.

The Blankets and Wine edition was the best event for UG Pineapple to shine as it resonates with the Gin’s niche market, lounge in the sun and catch a cocktail. As the afternoon turned to evening and into the night, Kampala party revellers flocked Lugogo cricket oval in their hundreds.

The event is a good excuse for girls to show off their fashion sense and Kampala girls do not disappoint. Girls in hot pants, girls in overalls, girls bringing African Fabric to the fore. Every fashion imaginable. The best place to harvest some eye candy was the UG Pineapple photo booth because if fashion must walk the Blankets and Wine red carpet, then the world must see in it pictures.

Uganda’s legend music goddess Joanita Kawalya bellowed her most favourite hits over the years, bringing a relaxing mood to the evening sunset.

By 8pm when Distruction Boys stepped on stage, Cricket oval was filled to capacity. The due put up an energetic performance, picking songs from all over Africa and crowning their performance with their all time favourite hit, Omunye.

The show however, features a lot more. It will be a cultural festival, where all tribes and cultures from the west will be represented through music and cultural drinks and other forms of entertainment. According to Paul Edyau, MD of Legends Ventures and Marketing Agency, the organizers of the Mega Fest, the lineup is being led by diva and dance hall queen; Cindy Sanyu, Vampiino, Washington, comedian Swengere and the best comedy export from the East, Emma Napoleone.

“The event will be about three aspects. It will be an avenue for OB’s and OG’s from all the traditional schools in the East to meet up and network. People from schools like Mwirri College, Butiki, Jinja College, Ngora SS, Nabumali SS, Namasagali, Tororo Girls, Teso College and many more will reunite at the festival. Secondly, it will be a chance for everyone in the East to share culture. A reason traditional performances are being prepared to the same cause. Expect a lot of Embaile, Kadodi Drums, Adungu, Malwa, Millet, among a panoply of things that symbolize the different tribes in the East. It will also be a platform for domestic tourism promotion, “ relayed Edyau.

The event, which was hosted to empower Ugandan artists, musicians and producers, follows the successful partnership launch between TIDAL, a global music and video streaming platform, and MTN Uganda, the leading communications operator in Uganda offering mobile & fixed telecommunications.

According to Munyaradzi Chanetsa, Head of Operations at CCA, the conference aimed at empowering participants on the latest trends in the digital space that can be used to advance careers and commercial success of musicians and artists alike.

“The advancement of technology has positively impacted the global music industry. Musicians are now able to produce their music faster, cheaper and at better quality. At the Artists Collaboration Conference, we have seen Ugandan musicians eager to turn their talent into long term commercial success using digital channels”, said Munyaradzi Chanetsa.

CCA is an independently owned media and content business based in Johannesburg with extensive experience in the African entertainment industry.

The core of CCA’s offering is digital distribution of audio and visual content and through a seamless and specialized technical process, music and videos are submitted, digitized and ingested to platforms that deliver content products to millions of consumers across the World.

Jason Kpana, Senior Vice President Artist & Label Relations, explained how TIDAL came back to Uganda hot on the heels of their recent partnership launch with MTN.

“Our arrival in Uganda was met with so much excitement from consumers and artists alike. TIDAL will continue connecting with local musicians, producers, engineers and other players in the music industry to share all the tools necessary to take advantage of all we have to offer!”

On their part, MTN Uganda has been at the fore front of empowering musicians and advancing the music industry in Uganda, as told by their Chief Marketing Officer Olivier Prentout.

“Our twenty year strong existence in Uganda has seen us support musicians in various ways. With the Artists Collaboration Conference we have moved from just sponsoring their shows and launches to giving them the tools and expertise to earn money even when they are not on the stage performing” said Olivier Prentout.

Throughout the day long conference, musicians learned about the evolution of music, the impact of the digital revolution in the music industry, how to choose the right digital business partner, rights management and how to take advantage of digital marketing to advance their careers among many other topics.

Sodamola Oluseye Desmond – aka DJ SPINALL – and Kemar Donaldson popularly known – Kranium – made an appearance at the conference where they addressed the participants and networked freely with them.

Speakers at the conference included Aly Allibhai (CEO Talent Africa), Manny Teixeira (General Manager Digital Media & Services MTN Group), Susan Kayemba (Senior Manager Digital Services – MTN Uganda), Tom Mbalu (Business Unit Director & Head of Digital, TBWA Uganda) and Warrick Percy – Head of Licensing, CAPASSO SA.

Over 40 mothers check into the hospital every month for delivery. The hospital took a bold decision to accommodate only expectant mothers because of space constraints. The rest, with varying ailments, were referred to other health centres for management.

Today, a new block stands tall at the health centre ready to usher in patients who say they have been incurring heavy expenses and losing a lot of time traveling to Kasese for treatment. Hima Cement has built a new General Ward at the health centre. The ward, worth Shs 260 million, will help to ease access to medical services for the people of Hima and the wider Kasese community.

Hima Cement CEO Mr. Nicolas George said that this project is part of Hima Cement Corporate Social Responsibility to the communities where the company operates. He said that the communities have given Hima Cement the limestone to make cement but also an opportunity to create thousands of jobs and employ people in Kasese, Kampala and across the country.

“The least we can do is to give back to the community where we work. We will continue to contribute as much as we can in health, education and environment protection, which are key focus areas.”
He said this during the handover of the health centre to the community members and management of Hima Health Centre III in Kasese on 24th September.

Dr Manasseh Baluku, the in charge at Hima Health Centre III says while the hospital has enough staff to handle and manage patients, they do not have the equipment to diagnose many cases.
With a new facility in place, he says government should construct a theatre.

“It will be unfortunate to have all these facilities when we don’t put them to use. Now that we have a newly constructed ward, we call upon government to construct a theatre. We need to give our people proper services. You have put up this structure and we promise it will not remain empty. We have reached out to Ministry of Health to have it operationalised,” said Dr Baluku said.

I however write with a heavy heart because of the recent developments especially regarding the taxes that have been heaped on Ugandans in the most haphazard manner.

One of the most unfortunate narratives that have been hawked around has been to suggest that Ugandans don’t want to pay taxes and are therefore overzealously trying to oppose it for opposition sake.

On the contrary, Ugandans are willing to pay any taxes as long as they are imposed in good faith and at the same time have a deliverable return on investment in terms of service delivery.

After all this Mobile money, social media and rental tax will not be the first taxes that Ugandans have endured to pay.

The Historic Perspective

For instance during the colonial days the Britons imposed the hut tax, poll tax, the gun tax and the graduation tax.

But most Ugandans were majorly concerned about the graduation tax not because it was too much but because the manner of its collection was brutal and inhuman. The Britons through their agents (the muluka chiefs) used to chase the defaulting Ugandans around and tie them on ropes like slaves or thieves.

Actually one of my grandfathers used to prank the tax collectors by waiting for them to get very near him then he would takeoff at break neck speed!. After making them chase for a few kilometers he would stop and show them his graduated tax, phew!.

You see my grandfather’s prank was a message that many Africans could afford the tax but there were better ways to collect it than humiliating them!

As a result of this brutality in the collection of this graduated tax, the Ugandans became bitterly opposed to the colonialists and compelled most Africans to agitate for self-rule.

The problem is that the post-colonial African governments that inherited power from the Britons also maintained the same tax to the chagrin of their citizens mostly because they were a greedy lot.

I however think that we (Ugandans) were lucky that it (graduated tax) became a political issue when one of the presidential candidates Dr Kiiza Besigye vowed to scrap it if he was elected into power in 2001.

I think I should thank you Mr. President for having been humble enough and made a decision to scrape it with immediate effect.

Ugandans however continued to endure so many other taxes without complaining. These taxes were mostly consumerist in nature i.e VAT, PAYE are all being paid by Ugandans without any complaint

Although there was some small resistance about VAT upon its introduction, it easily evaporated on account of the fact that its opponents were motivated by ignorance rather than genuine reasons.

Ugandans have since been paying all the other taxes which have been imposed on them.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

It simply means that Ugandans are willing to pay taxes, but they are put off by three factors;

1; the brutality of the tax collection, like we saw with the graduated tax

2; the malicious intention of the govt in imposing the tax i.e you justified the imposition of social media tax to stop rumor mongering!

This made it appear as if it was imposed out of malicious intentions but NOT out of the patriotic desire to collect revenue for developing the country.

3; Ugandans also resist taxation because they don’t normally get value for money out of it.

 Instead they see it being swindled by government officials and wasteful govt polices like the recent directive you gave to the finance minister authorizing him to disburse on trillion shillings on armored cars for the MPs!. Many concerned Ugandans are praying hopefully that you reverse it to save them such a burden.

 And this brings the issue of the high cost of public administration which could and can be easily avoided if you decided, to the fore as an important instrument of disciplined resource allocation.

This high cost of public expenditure obviously makes any new tax appear like another burden to Ugandans.

Nevertheless, if your government had demonstrated frugality and spent the resources wisely, Ugandans would never think of resisting any tax imposed on them. But since they don’t get value for money, they are in defiant moods.

The Narrow Tax Base

However we must admit that much as we as Ugandans complain about taxes, the tax regime in most of the western countries is tighter and more unforgiving than ours here.

Am not going to quote figures (they are normally used for propaganda) but I can give examples which attest to the fact that in Africa our tax per GDP is much lower than any other part of the world.

In the western world tax evasion is a very big crime.

We saw Lionel Messi taken to court for tax evasion.

Actually, one of the reasons why Christiano Ronaldo opted to go to Italy was because of the unforgiving tax regime in Spain.

But the citizens of those countries don’t resist taxes because their govt put them to good use.

Broadening The Tax Base

I actually agree with you Mr. president that in Uganda we have a narrow tax base and allow tax collection per GDP (which you put at 14{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe})

But this is mostly because of the laxity of govt and its failure to accurately read the trends of the economy leaving so many taxable initiatives untapped.

As a result of this, your people end up haphazardly imposing taxes on the wrong sectors attracting the wrath of the citizens.

It’s safe to suggest that your NRM govt doesn’t seem to know what should be taxed and what should not be taxed. That’s why your NRM govt has managed to unashamedly come up with the tree different taxes in three months (rentals tax, social media tax and mobile money tax in just three months!)

Mr. President you know very well that a good tax must be imposed gradually (at least one every financial year).

For instance the mobile money tax works against your aspiration for middle income status for Ugandans because it impedes progress and profit accumulation.

It appears like an attempt to impede progress than aid it.

But most importantly the easiest way govt can broaden its tax base can easily be achieved if it first introduces tax holidays as a precondition for every new business startup.

How will it work?

Once you promise Ugandans that they are entitled to a tax holiday for two years (the time frame can be adjusted accordingly) as long as they register their businesses they will not evade taxes.

They will initially be compelled to register their business without fear so as to enjoy the benefit of not paying immediately after starting a business.

After the end or expiry of the tax holiday , govt will not struggle to search or look for them because they will either be in position to pay or close since they are already on the radar of the Uganda revenue authority.

Mr. President its important to note that the policy of compelling Ugandans to pay taxes immediately after starting their small business has made it inevitable for them to evade the said taxes.

You find a poor woman tasked to pay immediate license fees for a small saloon even when the business has not taken off!  So she would rather bribe the collector rather than pay to the national coffers!

This has led to collusion between the business owners and the tax collectors in evading taxes hence loss of revenue to govt.

Therefore tax holidays will introduce so many Ugandans to the tax paying club as long as you prioritize all the registration of all taxable initiatives in the country. The tax holidays will work as a bait or decoy.

Simply encourage Ugandans to register their businesses in return for a tax holiday; you will see the rate at which people will log into the tax cue.

By the way, Mr. President why give tax holidays (of five to ten years) to foreigners but deny the same to Ugandans? Why really?

Your counterpart president of Liberia, President George Weah recently waived taxes from 80{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe} to 40{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe} of all imports to save his poor citizens from the biting cost of living and inflation.

Mr. President you boast of having increased power generation by a huge margin but the power tariffs are the highest in the country!

This has made the cost of doing business in Uganda to be one of the highest in the world.

I therefore request that you consider looking at the issue of tax holiday for Ugandans, the reviewing of the current taxes especially the power tariffs and scale down taxes on fuel to create a business friendly atmosphere in the country.

The author, Fred Daka Kamwada is journalist and a blogger, catch him on [email protected]

A journalist had asked him to respond to his son in-law Odrek Rwabwogo’s insistence that the country needed to resolve the succession question now or never.

Odrek had written quite a number of articles which not only criticized the sustainability of the NRM revolutionary project in general but also questioned the working methods of its chairman who also happens to be his father in law, President Yoweri Museveni.

But while he was answering the journalist, he appeared bored to talk about the subject.

It was like asking the pope to discuss what happens in the disco.

President Museveni has won so many wars but there is sufficient evidence to suggest that he might lose the succession battle.

The Ugandan leader has fought and won wars against nations like Zaire(now DRC) ,Rwanda , sudan among others. Fought and defeated presidents like Gen Idi Amin , Apollo Milton Obote , Gen Tito Okello Lutwa, Joseph Mobutu, Juvenal Habyarimana, Omar Bashir  Laurent kabila etcetera.

In fact while most leaders usually collapse when they venture into wars with their nearest neighbors like Amin who evaporated with the kagera misadventure, Museveni has managed to survive very many tricky wars his especially the one of Rwanda where over a million people perished in a genocide.

Under normal circumstances, and given the fact almost the antagonist forces that invaded Rwanda where from his NRA contingent, he would have been put on the spot for what happened, but the situation normalized sooner than expected.

He has defeated over 40 Ugandan rebel groups that include ADF, LRA, Westnile Bank Front,UNRF1, UNRF2, FOBA , UPDA,UPA, Holy spirit Movement, PRA etcetera.

And in this process he has obliterated notorious rebel leaders like Alice Lakwena, Col Juma Oris , Col Erick Odwar ,Joseph Kony, Herbert Itongwa, Jamil Mukulu, Col Samson Mande  etcetera.

He has also overcome so many political challenges that include the lifting of presidential term limits, the return of traditional kingdoms which President Milton Obote had suspended in 1966, the return of Asians that President Idi Amin had expelled from the country in 1972, , the kayunga riots, the numerous political coalitions that have usually ganged up during elections etcetera.

He has also ‘somehow’ contained  the Buganda question, the Acholi question, the Westnile question, the Lango question, the Obugabe question, the Obusinga question, the Kyabazinga question etc.

He has overcome controversial elections of 1996,2001,2006,2011 and 2016.

President Museveni has also got away with quite a number of radical economic decisions that could have led to his downfall like hugely misunderstood currency reform of 1987 where the Ugandan currency was devalued by 30{0945c2a372ac1e8bbfe7cc3e10f9b82eb0b8ae872b07368d754f0396b6ef2afe}, the massive privatization exercise, the massive retrenchment of workers, the unforgiving famine and drought that has always ravaged the country almost every two years among others.

The Transition Conundrum

Given the aforementioned challenges, you can now say that the only two issues still standing in his way , which are interlinked in a way , are the lifting of age limit on the presidency which was padlocked at 75 years and the succession question.

Both political questions are interlinked because, one leads to the other in a certain way. That is to say; if Museveni and his group manages to succeed in lifting the age limit, it will certainly prolong the succession question to infinity-perhaps beyond 2026!.

If, however, it (the lifting of the age limit) doesn’t happen, then he will have the opportunity to settle the succession question as early as 2021 when he will certainly step down.

That is exactly what makes the succession debate very interesting.

The other aspect of it is the personalities likely to constitute a group from which he will choose his successor.

At the moment, it appears as if even the president himself doesn’t know whom to choose.

In the last ten years there have been constant rumors that he was grooming his son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to take over the mantle when he opts to retire.

But the propagators of that conspiracy theory were shocked when he sacked his son from the relatively influential position of commander of special force brigade and demoted him to the lesser post of advisor to the president on military affairs.

Having decimated, humiliated and rather obliterated the opposition and reduced it to a laughing stock, the source of the next Ugandan leader is one of the biggest challenges of our time.

Constitutionally, the pecking order shows that the vice president is supposed to takeover when the Ugandan president dies, resigns or is impeached.

If any of the above was to happen today, then the less talked about Hon Edward Sekandi easily takes over as Ugandan president.

But how come some Ugandans are asking president Museveni to show them his heir apparent to the throne even when he has a vice president?

A few years ago it appeared to be an easy subject for the Ugandan president to discuss the retirement question. When he appeared on NTV, he told talk-show host Patrick Kamara that he felt that he wouldn’t continue serving beyond 75 years.

Today, Museveni is 72 years old. And in the next three years, actually in 2020, he will certainly have clocked 75 years mark which he said he would retire.

Will he abide by his word this time round? Ugandans have numerously caught president Museveni on the wrong side of his own promises.

He has broken so many promises one of which includes the one he made in 1986 that the problem of Africa was the leaders who cling on power-which in effect was translated as pledge that he was not going to cling on power like the other selfish African leaders.

Then there is another one he made in 2001 that he would not run beyond 2005, the time when his two constitutional terms was due to expire.

Today he has done 31 odd years without feeling tired-according to the vigor he exudes whenever he is challenged to prove his fitness.

Well, all you can say is that while the Ugandan leader has overcome so many challenges during his thirty year reign, he still continues to find the succession question as the most challenging, most confusing and most embarrassing subjects.

It is not only a quagmire or a conundrum but it’s like a pendulum that swings from either the positive side to the negative side with unpredictable force.

The author Fred Daka Kamwada is a researcher and blogger ‘.chat with him on [email protected]