Members of Parliament on Parliament’s Finance Committee have thrown out the proposal to exempt Bujagali Hydro-electricity Limited from paying income tax for another one year.

This has come after MPs discovered that the proposal was smuggled into the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2024 because there was no such proposal in the original bills tabled before Parliament in March 2024.

“I don’t know whether it is right procedurally for the Minister to add in a clause which isn’t in the original bill that was laid before Parliament. The issue of Bujagali isn’t anywhere in the bills that was laid before Parliament, so I am not seeing where the Minister is getting it from.

That issue of Bujagali has been on the forefront of the 11th Parliament, and we saw the revenue leakages in this project. The Minister by then wanted five tax break but as Parliament, we came to a consensus of one year. So, I believe it is deliberate for them to leave it out and then smuggle it at this stage,” said Karim Masaba (Mbale Industrial Division).

State Minister for Finance, Henry Musasizi, presented a proposal to give Bujaagali Hydro Power Project another one-year income tax exemption up to 30 June 2025.

He said this would reduce the electricity tariff pending the conclusion of the Auditor General’s review of the project.

However, the Committee rejected the proposal, saying the clause was not part of the original Income Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2024 that was tabled on the floor of Parliament.