KAMPALA – Renown polygamous and local socialite – Charles Olim aka Sipapa has attacked musician turned politician – Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine for ‘wailing in public’ over what he described cheap taxes levied on his ‘used’ armoured Toyota Land Cruiser V8.
Bobi Wine – a former presidential candidate in the 2021 general polls has continued to dominate headlines since the arrival of his ‘bullet proof’ monster SUV in February, this year.
The vehicle, according reliable sources, is a donation from Bobi Wine supporters based in different foreign countries, to ‘minimize’ the risks of gun-related attacks.
Recently, Uganda tax-body – URA requested Bobi Wine to handover the vehicle for re-assessment to ascertain its actual specifications, which result were released last week – indicating that former presidential candidate had to cough an extra Ugx337m to rescue his car.
The URA decision, did not go down well with Bobi Wine, who described the whole episode as a ‘political persecution,’ – attracting the attention of supporters from different corners of the world, pledging to fundraise the required money to clear off the taxes.
But as others pledged supporters – Sipapa¬ – in his usual controversial casual talk – offered to ‘buy-off’ Bobi Wine’s car, accusing the former presidential candidate of ‘seriousness,’ in a messaged he expressed during a local radio talk-show.
Sipapa claimed that as someone, who too, has an armoured car, Bobi Wine’s rant over Ugx337m in taxes was outrageous – because he had personally, reportedly paid over Ugx400m in taxes for his vehicle.
“Many people in this country drive cars after paying over Ugx500m in taxes. Ask SK Mbuga (Suleiman Kabangala Mbuga) how much he paid for his Ferrari. It was over Ugx380m. I paid over Ugx400m to clear my armoured.
“The challenge with Bobi is the love for clout; he should have silently asked some of us – his rich friends for that pocket change in order to clear with URA instead of making useless noise. He was just too excited – thinking he would be sleeping in an armoured car – exposing himself by doing things that we already did long ago.” He lashed out at the outgoing Kyadondo East legislator.
He continued: “How can a man who can’t clear taxes want to lead a country like Uganda. How does he think a country develops without taxes? He should choose sticking to either politics or music because he has proved he can’t handle both of them at the same time.
“He does not know that cars are pay taxes because he is used to driving used vehicles. The Escalade he drives around was about to be parked at the scrapyard when he bought it. Let him declare that he is broke – so that I bail him out by buying that Armoured vehicle, which URA impounded,” he concluded.
