MPs will have to buy their own OTT – Kadaga confirms

Parliament or members of the public will not buy for any legislator of Over-The-Top (OTT) services, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has confirmed.

In May 2018, Parliament approved social media tax of Shs200 daily to access Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Then, some legislators said the tax would generate additional income for government while others argued that it would curtail access to information.

Only last month, telecommunications giants MTN signed a deal to provide each legislator with 5GB monthly bundle at Shs30,000 and Shs6,000 OTT.
This meant that Parliament was to spend Shs36,000 on each of the 460 MPs – a total of Shs16,560,000 – every month.
However, the move was blocked by Kadaga when she returned from sick leave and promised that she will conduct inquiries into the matter.
“I have not seen the agreement but I don’t believe that the public should pay OTT for Members of Parliament. No. I don’t support it, I would like to reiterate that I am opposed to this arrangement. And if there is any such agreement, it will be looked at it again and corrected,” said Kadaga then.

On Thursday, while answering questions via #Ask Kadaga, the Speaker confirmed that the matter had been settled.
“I told the Clerk to Parliament that the institution will not pay OTT for Members of Parliament, and there will be no further debate on the matter,” said Kadaga.