Parliament wants airtime scratch cards reinstated
Jan 30, 2019
In August last year, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) – a regulatory body of the communications sector in Uganda, ordered the phasing out of airtime scratch cards to be replaced by easy load.
Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has directed the minister of Information and Communications Technology, Frank Tumwebaze to explain the continued failure by the Executive to redeem its promise to reinstate airtime scratch cards.
In August last year, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) - a regulatory body of the communications sector in Uganda, ordered the phasing out of airtime scratch cards to be replaced by easy load.
The said phasing out which spawned complaints by mobile telephone users was supported by telecommunications companies, reasoning that easy load gave users a latitude to load as little as sh100 airtime which scratch cards couldnot.
However, the Government seemed to have backtracked on its decision to ban airtime scratch cards following a stakeholders meeting at Parliament attended by Tumwebaze, UCC technocrats, lawmakers and representatives of telecom operators.
The reasoning of majority lawmakers was the absence of easy load operators in most rural areas which would literally make it impossible for mobile phone users to buy airtime.
With the ban on scratch cards still in place six months later, Paul Akamba (Busiki County) brought the issue on the floor of Parliament seeking an explanation from the Executive.
"There is not a single airtime scratch card you can find in Uganda yet easy load is still not accessible in many rural areas," Akamba said.
Kadaga subsequently directed Tumwebaze, who was not in the House, to give a response to the House next week.
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