Today in History - November 27, 2011

The Legislative Council (LEGCO) passed the controversial taxation bill by 44 votes to 39. During the debate J.K. Babiiha (UPC- Toro Central) said the measure was ill-timed and the result of the “piecemeal” nature of the government’s legislative procedure.

He criticized the suggestion which had come from the Min. of Finance, Mr. C.G.F.F. Melmoth that the measure was needed as a means of ending racial inequality in taxation.

The whole tax structured badly needed reviewing but instead of tackling it as a whole, courageously, the government was offering this current bill.

 A.A. Nekyon (Lango S.E) said that it was wrong to call it income tax when applying to Africans because Africans were already paying income tax in form of graduated tax.

Melmoth said that the government was introducing the bill because on March 01, 1962, the Ugandan Constitution, incorporating a code of human rights would be put into operation. This provided for us discrimination and the government was trying to stop any kind of discrimination in Uganda.

Did you know

The first Museum was established in 1908 and demolished in 2002.

This is the oldest in East Africa, and perhaps the best, rooted in an ethnographic collection first exhibited in 1905 in a small Greek Temple near Laggard’s Fort on Old Kampala Hill.

Formally established in 1908, the museum was initially known by the local Baganda as Enyumba ya Mayembe (House of Fetishes) and its exhibits were believed to bestow supernatural powers on the colonial administration. In 1954, the museum relocated to its present site on Kira Road.

For those with an interest in pre-colonial African history, there are stimulating displays on the Nakayima Tree, Ntusi and Bigo bya Mugenyi, as well as other aspects of Ugandan History.

Of more general interest is a fantastic collection of traditional musical instruments from all over the continent, and the ethnographic gallery, which houses a variety of exhibits relating to traditional Ugandan lifestyles.