Taxation and the
Indigenous Property Owner/developer
Sam
Mwaka-karama
SHOCKING –
but the local and indigenous property owner and developer is an endangered
species – this shockingly is primarily a situation affecting indigenous Ugandan
businessmen and entrepreneurs.
Over the last
three or four years, Uganda’s brand name property owners and developers have
been quietly disappearing [as in dying away slowly] and, hardly do people
notice, but the indigenous local rich and propertied are silently vacating
their place in society.
Today [Friday
20th June 2014 – a year ago from the date of publishing this blog
post], I was in the Shell Bugolobi / Mall areas – and met a long time friend of
the Kampala streets of the 1970s and 80s. A hard working person of my
generation who is now an extensive property owner and developer allowed me
conversation with him [name withheld] for over an hour.
As usual we
had random chit-chat touching on nearly every topic strictly in the business
and trade, entrepreneurship fields…
We have
always been free with one another, despite the enormous economic divide now
between us - so at a certain moment during our conversation, my mental alarm
bell went off, as we drove away from the filling station area – when an
employee of his had joined us in a brief drive towards Jinja road very much
within town.
My friend [a Muganda by tribe] who runs his
empire from the sixth street, in Kampala, was sending his employee [also a
Muganda] to his other businesses, making instructions – suddenly, I noticed a
previously unknown characteristic in my friend, when his temper flared [over
such a tiny issue – shouting!] at his long-time employee and, with that I saw a
raw and deadly combination of pressure and hyper-tension live! [He was
hospitalized months later].
Such that for
an instant, as you are driving – your anger and tension might cause your neck
to stiffen and for an angry moment you couldn’t look left or right with ease…
in the maze of fast traffic!
I immediately
was concerned even alarmed and, soon as the employee was dropped-off, I
softened talks between my friend and myself – what I mean is, without having to
be a physician – the obvious raw pressure and hype-tension I had seen that
accompanied the eruption, was a telling enough symptom to trigger my mild
inquiry into how life was with him lately… at least the last two years I wasn’t
seeing him much!!
My friend just
groaned and said - “O No.. Those URA taxation people are killing us”.
I have
practiced journalism for three years in my life and, I am experienced enough in
as far as Ugandan society and community existence were concerned – without being
a radio talk show anybody - I have immense backlog of sociology materials and,
journalistic experience to deduce a lot out of a tiny comment - I am capable of
drawing from my book research and writing experience to place a very relevant
and safe pointer on an issue.
The taxation
killer… is a real phenomenon – in Property and Entrepreneurship.
Taxation is
the undoing of property ownership and development in Uganda… unless some or an
association of indigenous Ugandan property owners and developers come-up ASAP
with a bright enough piece of parliamentary bill maker… petition in-which the
indigenous Ugandan property owners and developers seek a partitioning of the
law on property taxation - to separate between out-right foreign property
owners and the local property owners if only in taxation regime terms. And
again, if only to slightly scale down the pressure-point for the local Ugandans
– and reduce on the s-t-r-e-t-c-h of the definition and emphasis on ‘struggle
to live’! What actually trickles down to the ordinary citizenry with dire
consequences – besides killing the welfare aspect of country existence
completely.
Because,
beyond every reasonable doubt the condition the Ugandan citizen entrepreneur
goes under to build a structure at all, are extreme and, prohibitive. It is an
effort against real, and enormous odds.
While an
outright foreign property owner and developer may have come-in with foreign
privately donated philanthropy capital and, overnight, easily invested in the
open property markets in the country. The local developer generates capital the
harder way. And, I think here the locals deserve concessions here.
This taxation
factor in combination with property regulatory ground rental fees and other
trade charges regularly or annually paid; apparently home-in a combination of
devastating impact on the property owners individual lives – who often have to
hike their own property rentals beyond affordability of a larger percentage of
the local business companies and individuals… as a result mostly, higher grade
and prime properties weren’t fully rented all year round.
A cursory
research might reveal that an average mall or plaza and block of flats or
apartments, might have annual [un-occupancy] of up to 30% by average easily.
What would, all the more, aid an indigenous association toward convincingly
agitating for a valid parliamentary bill maker – to redress property tax laws.
This [flash
and] very impromptu article my latest blog post, is not in any way meant to
malice any foreigners doing business in Uganda, but an expression of concern
with the life expectancy decline of property owners… who are evidently dying
quietly of hypertension and pressures. A
valid area of human concern. Moreover, not an insult to any groups of people –
but an objective overview. Actually written a year ago! ***
Writer is an Independent Thinker,
Author and Blogger
