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KAMPALA. – Uganda’s new tax on social media access limits basic rights and harms business, according to a petition filed by activists to the constitutional court. South African mobile network operator MTN is the largest network provider in Uganda and is likely going to be hit hard by the new tax.

Both Facebook and MTN declined to comment. A spokesman for Google did not respond to a request for comment on the tax.

Ugandans pay 200 shillings (R0.68) a day to access Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, Skype and other phone apps under the tax introduced on Sunday.

The government says the revenue will help fund energy, transport and other projects. The social media tax is unconstitutional, according to Daniel Bill Opio, a lawyer who filed the petition with the Kampala-based Cyber Law Initiative nonprofit organisation, and others.

“Youths are taking on initiatives toward innovation and technology mostly using these … online platforms,” he said. “Once you introduce a tax … you are actually killing this budding entrepreneurship.”

Amnesty International called on the government to scrap the tax and said it was an attempt to smother dissent disguised as a measure to raise revenue.

Others have denounced the tax on Twitter using the hashtag ThisTaxMustGo.

Opposition parties and other critics said President Yoweri Museveni’s government imposed onerous taxes to fund wasteful spending while failing to stem corruption.

The court received the petition on Monday and no hearing date had been set, said judiciary spokesman Solomon Muyita.

Uganda’s courts are clogged and a lawsuit can take years before a verdict. – Reuters