[Intl-tobacco] Museveni (Ugandan Pres.) Supports Tobacco Company (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

Museveni Supports Tobacco Company
by EDWARD OJULU / THE EASTAFRICAN
Source: The East African, Monday, 3/13/00

UGANDAN PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has joined the tobacco debate, sparked
three weeks ago by a sports columnist in The EastAfrican, who criticised
British American Tobacco's sponsorship of a sports gala night.

The President has expressed doubt about the tobacco-cancer link, saying:
"The Banyankore [the President's tribe] used to smoke but I don't think
there was an incident of cancer." He said a majority of peasants live up
to 90 yet they smoke tobacco.

The tobacco debate started last month when Kevin O'Connor, a sports
columnist, criticised the sponsorship of sports journalists and events
by tobacco companies.

Sports journalists later dismissed O'Connor's argument as baseless.
A senior BAT (Uganda) manager said the company had invited health officials
and other stakeholders to discuss ways of making tobacco consumption safer.
Health officials supported O'Connor's remarks.

"I think the problem is in the way people smoke. Why swallow the smoke?
To get rid of the urge you do not have to swallow the smoke," President
Museveni said.

The President was speaking when he commissioned BAT's refurbished green
leaf threshing plant in Kampala last week.

The $4.7 million investment in the plant was necessitated by an upsurge
in tobacco production by the company, which has jumped from 6,345 tonnes
in 1996 to more than 21,500 tonnes in 1999. President Museveni quoted a
Kinyankore proverb: "When a man is in trouble he smokes. These people might
have found wisdom in smoking."

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Brigadier Moses Ali, who accompanied
the President, described BAT (Uganda) as "the best milk producing cow in
Uganda. "The tobacco giant last year paid Ush48.7 million ($32,000) to
the Treasury in the form of taxes =96 the largest sum from a single tax-pay=
er."

The BAT management said the figure could rise further if the government
step up efforts to curb cigarette smuggling from neighbouring countries.
Uganda liberalised the tobacco trade in March, 1999.

The company sponsors 56,000 farmers to grow tobacco in Bunyoro, Mubende
and West Nile region. It is estimated that its total tobacco output this
year will be 21,500 tonnes. About 94 per cent of it is exported after proce=
ssing.
The remaining six per cent is used at the company's factory in Jinja.

British American Tobacco (Uganda) employs 563 permanent staff and a
further 2,500 on casual and contract jobs during peak tobacco processing
and marketing seasons.

President Museveni defended the tobacco industry and described smugglers
as "enemies of our revenue and employment."

He recently set up a special anti-smuggling unit which reports to him,
saying the Uganda Revenue Authority had been "compromised" by smugglers.

The EastAfrican has also learnt that importers who have been
complaining of harassment have been ordered to fully comply with tax obliga=
tions.
A minister said last week that an independent investigation had unearthed
smuggling rackets involving "big fish."

Mr Museveni said all importers must pay taxes because their activities
do not generate employment for locals. "We don't tax exporters. We tax
importers and they must pay," said the President.

The tobacco company, which has operated in Uganda since 1928, also plans
to inject $1.16 million to refurbish its offices.