Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) council has been cautioned to desist from any attempt of implementing the Rent Restriction Act, a 1949 legislation that would result into setting rent ceilings for city landlords.
The authority has been thinking about how the colonial era piece of legislation can be implemented following complaints from city tenants and spontaneous strikes triggered by rent increment. According the act, a rent board can be established to set up a standard rent upon which landlords can’t exceed.
In a statement, KCCA legal director Mike Okua told a Council meeting on Friday that curbing rent would result into reduction in income charged by Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) under income tax legislation and property rates charged by KCCA.
Okua informed Council that Uganda is a liberalised economy as per government policy and any attempt to curb rent is against the free economy spirit. “Free market economy means that there is less regulation and restriction in the economy such that the private sector can actively participate in businesses and thrive,” he said.
Okua said landlords have complained that their “premises have been built using borrowed funds which they must pay. Some of these borrowed funds are in foreign currencies and under a liberalised market, the foreign exchange rates are always fluctuating and influenced by demand and supply in the economy.”
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