Recent reports indicate that over 30 per cent of girls have dropped out of school due to lack of sanitary towels.
The prices of dippers now range between Shs1000 for the babies and Shs4000 for the adults while sanitary towels go for anywhere between Shs3500 and Shs4000 on the retail market.
On May 4, 2023 parliament of Uganda made some tax amendments in the existing tax bills including; the Income Tax, Excise Duty and Value Added Tax.
The new Value Added Tax (VAT) Amendment bill 2023, however proposed that effective January 2024, all imported dippers must pay an 18% VAT in form of revenue.
The state minister for Finance in Charge of Planning Mr Amos Lugoloobi, proposed that with this new tax government would raise approximately Shs2.6 billion annually, a contribution towards the country’s grappling economy not to mention building the tax base into achieving the over Shs26 trillion a target by the National Revenue Authority this year.
Reports from the authority revealed a short fall of Shs1.7Billion representing 46.78% of the annual target for the period of July to December 2022, however only managed to collect a net revenue of Shs11.6 billion representing only 46.40% of the annual target.
The second half of this financial year therefore, focused on achieving a target Shs13 billion, which accounts for 53.22% of the annual total target of Shs25Billion in the period January to July and thus a tax introduction meant realizing one of the strategies looked up to bridge the gap.
During a press conference on May 10, opposition female members of parliament also joined hands to call on government especially fellow colleagues to revoke their decision as this was not only a disservice to the women of this country but also a Bill made in bad faith and not researched.
“I just want to ask parliament that we should be considerate and reconsider the tax for the betterment of women in this country, the tax is not well researched and has no clear background of why the increment is imposed,” Brenda Nabukenya, the Luweero Woman representative proposed.
Mpigi District woman MP Christine Nakimwero Kaaya said that instead of imposing a tax to get rid of dippers, government needed to think of a proper plan to deal with the most pressing challenge of waste management that arises from the use of these dippers.
“Unlike the other things, just like the electronic gadgets including phones and computers we cannot do away with dippers. the unfriendly statistics including the cover of 30% of our population in Uganda not having access to adequate and clean water for sanitation in their homes also poses a threat to the environment,” Kaaya noted, adding that, “imagine how women will cope with not only looking for water to prepare their meals but also wash the traditional nappies and thus can’t risk to go back to those early days.”
The lack of clean water however according to Ronald Eligu, founder of Touch The Slum, a community based organization in Namuwongo that helps most especially teenage mothers in slums, remains a significant of yard stick between the “haves” and “have nots” of this country were the tax will only worsen the imbalance between the rich that can afford and the poor who already could afford the relatively expensive price.
Sam Asiimwe programs manager at Naguru Teenage Health Center an organization serving young mothers noted that these suffer multiple vulnerabilities including being mostly unskilled and unemployed, lack adequate family support the Bill diminished their quality of life and that of their babies and that increasing tax on diapers would further adversely affect their ability to provide the basic care required for their babies.
“As an organization, we only provide emergence diapers to the most vulnerable and this will in essence reduce the number we can reach, Asiimwe emphasized.
Adding that Government ought to gazette better policies including the National Health Insurance Scheme which would enable vulnerable young mothers access quality health care services.
The underlying statistics however are supported by the wholesale and retail trade sector among others one of the top five performers however greatly influenced by the women contribution including the over 60% teenage mothers in the antenatal facilities.
Ms Joyce Bagala, a Woman Member of Parliament Mityana District argues that the introduction of this tax will therefore not only ripple women’s productivity but also frustrate the efforts of increasing house hold income and government revenue which remains a key factor in all recent government programs like the Parish Development Model.
“While there’s intent to increase revenue, government seems to have missed on the valuable time mothers will have to waste dealing with the reusable dippers especially for children but not to mention the elderly and the sick that also share the same experience due to their health conditions,” Bagala notes.
The government has on several occasions been attacked with the unfulfilled commitments like providing young girls with free sanitary towels to keep them in school.
While a lot of girls still drop out of school even with a zero VAT sanitary towel, the fate of many women and young mothers lies in owe as the price in dippers will most definitely have to increase however at the expense of their reproductive health.
“If you look at this tax of Shillings 2.6 billion how much is it in comparison to what government and other development partners invest in health-related issues,” Bagala said.
The domestic revenue collected however remains very significant with a Gross Domestic revenue collections from July – December 2022 of Shs7 billion against a target of 7 billion, resulting in a surplus of 19 billion including a VAT Shs1.5 billion and a Gross International taxes collection from July – December 2022 of Shs4 billion against a target of Shs4.5 billion, representing a performance of 97.59% and VAT on imports of Shs1.7 billion.
