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Ntungamo MP asks residents not to pay taxes
Ntungamo Central market vendors attend a meeting recently. PHOTO BY PEREZ RUMANZI
What you need to know:
The MP says residents should not pay taxes unless government accounts for money collected.
NTUNGAMO
Ntungamo Municipality MP Yona Musinguzi has asked residents not to pay taxes to what he called a corrupt system that cannot account for what has been paid.
Mr Musinguzi accused the municipal council of swindling funds lobbied by MPs. He said this was partly because of lack of supervision by the municipal executive and technocrats.
“We have lobbied the central government to transfer a lot of money to this municipality but still everything is in a mess. Our leaders have been so corrupt and they have failed to manage civil servants. We cannot continue paying taxes unless we see something done,” Mr Musinguzi said.
“I will call upon you to stop paying taxes if there is no accountability for all the money that has been collected and that brought from the centre,” the MP told residents at Ntungamo Taxi Park on Monday.
He identified corruption ridden projects such as buying land for a sewerage lagoon for the municipality which he said was bought at Shs80m but inflated to Shs200m. He said the reconstruction of the Ntungamo Matooke market was valued at Shs600m yet it cost less than Shs100m.
However, the town clerk, Mr Ambrose Ochen, dismissed allegations of corruption as mere politicking. He said Mr Musinguzi was simply becoming “an alarmist”.
The mayor, Mr Jacob Kafureka, said Mr Musinguzi has failed to establish the real truth and is simply depending on rumours not knowing that he is part of the leadership to blame if anything is messed up.
“I do not think he can stop any one from paying taxes because people know why the taxes and licenses are paid. They also know what the municipal council is doing. There is no way they can take what he is saying as truth,” Mr Kafureka said.
Income tax is among taxes the residents remit to government.
