Media Briefing on Cabinet Decisions Taken During the Cabinet Meeting Held on Monday 9th April, 2018 at State House Entebbe
Cabinet sat on Monday 9th April 2018 at Entebbe State House under the chairmanship of H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and took the following decisions;
Approved the Landlord – Tenant Bill, 2018. The main objectives of the Bill are:
To define the duties and responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants in respect of rentable premises;
To promote access to adequate housing and other rentable premises;
To create a mechanism for proper functioning of rental market for both residential and commercial premises;
To establish a Landlord/Tenant dispute resolution mechanism;
To repeal the Rent Restriction Act CAP 231 and Distress for Rent (Bailiffs) Act, CAP 76; and
Approved the Roadmap for the commercialization of the Kiira Electronic Vehicle Project to be undertaken in phases, and authorized the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation to put in place the necessary Institutional Framework for the Project.
Commercialization of the Kiira Electric Vehicle Project is expected to;
Catalyze investment by small and medium Enterprises in the manufacture of vehicle parts, components and autonomy system (brake pads, seats, bolts, nuts, bumpers vehicle electronics and navigation system, among others);
Increase demand for the utilization of natural resources such as steel from iron ore deposits, plastics from oil and gas, and lithium batteries from graphite, among others;
Create over 2,000 direct jobs and about 12,000 indirect jobs; and
Provide leadership in African innovation in vehicle electrification, making cars suited for the African roads, climate and support infrastructure.
Cabinet further discussed and noted the concerns that have been expressed by various stakeholders and the public regarding the demand by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to access the personal accounts of all clients of Commercial Banks. Cabinet discussed the matter and with guidance of the attorney General, recognized that while URA has the Legal mandate to access any person’s bank account for purposes of tax audit and assessment, it should not be a blanket and general application to all people including those who are complying well and paying their taxes. URA should target accounts of individuals who are a subject of their tax investigation as has been the practice. URA was also advised to work and coordinate with the Financial Intelligence Authority – another government statutory body mandated to monitor all financial inflows without having to interfere with the business of banks.
The Minister of finance was accordingly directed to advise URA to drop its intentions of demanding for omnibus disclosure of people’s accounts from banks as this would cause unnecessary litigations and some turbulence in the banking sector and thus affect the economy.
Frank K.Tumwebaze
MINISTER OF ICT & NATIONAL GUIDANCE
CABINET SPOKESPERSON
