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President-for-Life of Uganda. He assumed office in 1985. His primary virtue is being prefereable to both his predecessors, Idi Amin and Milton Obote..., who has been in power since 1986.
Users will be charged 200 shillings ($0.0531) per day for services such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. That amounts to around $19 per year in a country where gross domestic product per capita was around $615 in 2016, according to World Bank figures.
The tax was passed on Wednesday as part of an overhaul of an excise duty law due to take effect next financial year which starts in July, parliament front man Chris Obore told Rooters.
A junior finance minister previously told journalists the tax would be levied daily by mobile phone operators on each SIM card used to access any of the targeted social media platforms.
There was no immediate comment from cell phone operators or social media companies, but rights advocates denounced the move.
"It (tax) is a new tool of stifling free expression and citizen organising that has been beyond the control of the state," said Nicholas Opiyo, a Kampala-based lawyer who also heads a local rights organization.
"It's intended to curtail the ever increasing central role of social media in political organising," he said.
A government front man did not return a call seeking comment but authorities have previously denied such accusations.
About 40 percent of Uganda's 40 million people use the internet, according to data from the regulating body Uganda Communications Commission. Facebook and WhatsApp are widely used in Uganda and many other African countries.