Since its inception on three years ago on 1st/July/2018, Ugandans have had a fair share of experiences with what many have called the enemy of digital transformation, OTT.
Over the Top Tax(OTT) was introduced in the 2018 financial year, as a form of increasing revenue collected by the country, given many Ugandans were embracing the digital era. The bundles were sh200, sh1400 and sh6000 daily, weekly and monthly respectively.
However, the government's expectations didn't turn out well, because the new tax faced a number of hurdles both locally and internationally. The most memorable local stambling block was the #OTTMustGo riot that was spearheaded by then Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine.
This got a wide recognition, given other notable faces like musicians Apass, Nubian Li and journalist Raymond Qatar joined in. Like many a protests held, this too didn't yield much positive, except many people who got teargas, businesses disrupted and arrests.
The tax did stand until when smart IT people introduced "a savior" that's VPN. This app once installed, could change the user's location to another country in the Europe, thus accessing social media without buying OTT.
This proved a big blow financially, for out of the expected 8bn Ugshs, the URA managed to collect only 4.7bn that financial year from OTT. This left to some legislators to suggest for the scrapping off of the tax which didn't happen until this year's financial year.
During the preparation for the 2021-22 financial year, a new 12% tax was proposed to be added on data charges, and in turn scrap off OTT. This indeed seemed both tricky and unbelievable in the eyes of internet users. But as y'all know, the law was passed.
Starting tomorrow, 1st/July/2021, there'll be no more buying of OTT, but rather data charges will have increased by 12%, meaning 100mbs that have been costing sh1000, are likely to cost sh1200. In the words of famous politician, "buli omu agumye munne."
