The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development Betty Amongi has described as unpatriotic, the landlords who are protesting a provision of the law that outlawed the payment of rent in foreign currencies.
The provision is embedded in a new law, passed by parliament, a week ago, to regulate the relationship between landlords and tenants. Within the same law, Parliament also passed a clause requiring landlords to give tenants a notice of up to six months, before vacating their buildings.
However, a number of landlords within Kampala raised complaints against the bill, arguing that restricting transactions to the local currency will stifle the real estate industry. They add that many of them invest in the real estate industry after securing foreign currency loans, whose interest rates are lower than the local currency rates. Interest rates for USD loans are calculated at 7.8 percent per annum.
According to the landlords, Uganda is a liberalized economy which gives freedom to parties to choose the currency through which transactions should be made.
But Minister Amongi says that free market economies are equally regulated. She argues that foreign currencies are used in the economy for certain transactions, some of which are related to the tourism and hospitality industry, that attracts foreign nationals. Amongi says that elsewhere, rent is negotiated in foreign currency and exchanged in the local currency.
She says that a number of companies import goods in Uganda using foreign currency, but convert their costs to Uganda shillings while transacting on the local market. Amongi adds that the construction industry like all other sectors, cannot be an exception for the stability and sovereignty of the Shilling.
Amongi now argues that such landlords must be patriotic in their debates about the Act of Parliament instead of celebrating the weakening the shilling.
Amongi, however, noted that the provision can be changed if the landlords convince the President that the law should give room for tenants who are willing to pay in US Dollars. She cited those that pay rent to international organizations such as United Nation Agencies among others.
Other provisions landlords have protested relate to the issuance of eviction notices, capping rent increment to not more than 10 per cent annually so that the housing industry does not increase inflation in Uganda. Amongi also reassures landlords that the provision to penalize landlords who annoy tenants was redefined to ensure tenants do not abuse it.
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