Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) cabinet has suspended Trade Licenses, Market Dues and Commercial User fees upto December 2020 to allow business Community recover from the toxic effects of the pandemic.
The Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago who chaired the meeting said, cabinet reached to a conclusion after a thorough assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related effects. The Mayor said that KCCA cannot meet their budgetary projections due to the pandemic.
“It’s no longer viable to meet the KCCA Budgetary projections. The total KCCA Budget is Shs521Billion and out of the same, approximately Shs100Billion is expected to be generated from Local Revenue. Apparently, many city businesses need a jerk start and it may not be proper for KCCA to impose taxes during a time when these are struggling,” Lukwago said.
Lukwago added that resolutions will be submitted to the council Minister of Finance because the City Executive is duty bound to initiate policies.
“These Cabinet Resolutions are going to be submitted in the Council by the Minister of Finance because the City Executive is duty bound to initiate policies and forward the same for the Council’s ratification in line with the law. The KCCA Budget will be scaled down and the Minister of Finance has been tasked to sit down with the Executive Director to work out the modalities of effecting this,” he added.
Among the resolutions passed by the Cabinet
1. Trade Licences be suspended upto December, 31, 2020 and this grace period will enable the business community to get back to business.
2. Market dues be suspended upto December, 31 2020. The executive noted that majority of the urban poor ply their goods in the markets and they have equally suffered the consequences of Covid-19.
3. Commercial User fees be suspended upto December, 31, 2020. There was a proposal by the Minister to re-introduce commercial User fees for the taxis and boda-bodas in the city. The KCCA Executive body resolved that it would be ridiculous to levy fees from these bodies which have been out of business since March 2020.