Journalists Associations demand govt to waive tax on internet, sign Minimum Wage bill

By Ben Musanje

3^rd May 2022

Journalists associations led by the Uganda Journalists Association-UJA have tabled six requests they want the Government to put in place in effort to respect their rights in the country.

This was in a joint press conference for their associations including UJA, Uganda Parliamentary Press Association-UPPA, Church of Uganda Media Association -CHOUMA, Adventists Media Association- AMA, Uganda Parliamentary Forum of Media -UPFM and Entertainment Journalists Association Uganda -EJAU in commemoration of the World Press Freedom day this Tuesday

Reading a joint statement at the UJA headquarters in Kawempe, the Church of Uganda Media Association President, Zambaali Bulasio Mukasa said that one of the demands is addressing the challenges of journalists’ poor welfare by ensuring that the Minimum Wage Bill of 2015 which was passed by Parliament in 2019 is signed into law by the President.

He says that the National Policy specifically for insurance cover of press freedom actors should be worked on given their vulnerability as well as waiving taxes on internet to foster information access by the public and Parliament should ensure that all passed laws such as the Prohibition of Torture Act 2012, Enforcement of Human Rights Act 2019 to deal with errant individual security personnel are effectively implemented to realize their purpose.

Mathias Rukundo, the UJA President encourages journalists to support the unity initiative that will only empower the spaces created to control the violation of their rights by the security agencies.

This year’s annual World Press Freedom Day is marked under the theme; Journalism under the digital siege.