By Charles Katabalwa.
The opposition National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party says Parliament of Uganda pass laws when only poor Ugandans face the challenges.
This comes few days when president Museveni has signed into law the Traffic and Road Safety (Amendment) Bill, 2023 increasing the fine from ugx 200,000 to ugx 2 million or imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or both for motorist driving beyond the prescribed speed limits and according to government,the move is intended to restore sanity and reduce on road Carnage on Uganda’s roads.
The party president Joseph Kabuleta while addressing the party weekly press conference at party headquarters in Lubaga said that :, “On many occasions parliament pass alaw which favors the rich people for example the Traffic and Road safety that is going to suppress poor people who don’t have money to pribe men in traffic uniform because many drivers are caught red handed over speeding but pay pribe and go , others Will be just got driving and forced to pay without any offense , even me one day I was stopped by a traffic officer and claimed that I was over speeding I resisted to pay even I was someone of big profile and the officer let me go! Others will instead face the consequences”
“There must be a hidden agenda in the traffic and Road safety law such as widening Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) tax Base because URA was given a certain amount of money needed to collect in the 2023/2024 budget and in doing so many people are going to loose properties and business due to harsh conditions URA enforcement team use to collect the tax” Kabuleta disclosed .
“Many bad laws are passed in Uganda in parliament and no Member of Parliament has never come out to fight Ugandans who voted him/her into parliament but instead enjoying services in parliament” Kabuleta says.
Kabuleta has also challenged government to check through the National Forestry Authority (NFA) officials amidst the passing of the charcoal trade ban ,because it’s the very own NFA enforcement team fueling the corruption due to their selective system of implementing the law.
On the same presser Kabuleta has cautioned the National Environmental Management Authority(NEMA) plan to force all vehicles to have dustbins or pay a shs6 million fine in default saying all these are being planed to grab Ugandans money for free