Council yet to approve tabled Bill

By JACKLYN SIRIAS
THE Constitutional Law Reform Commission is awaiting for the National Executive Council to approve the Informal Economy Development and Control Bill to be tabled in Parliament.
The commission’s informal economy sectorial committee senior project officer, Busa Wenogo, said the finalised Bill came about as a result of the review done on the Informal Sector Development and Control Act of 2004.
He said the Act was in place after a study commissioned by the CIMC Informal Economy Sectoral Committee in 1999 strongly recommended that a law be put in place to support informal economy development in the country.
Wenogo said it was first introduced in Parliament as a private member’s Bill by former Minister for Community Development, Youth, Sports and Religion Dame Carol Kidu and then a review was conducted in 2014 that found the Act was poorly implemented.
“Lack of understanding of roles by administering authorities and informal business operators, lack of awareness on the part of the government and informal business operators, and lack of funding, were highlighted as some of the key reasons for this,” he said.
He said that stakeholders in the reviewing committee did not want to do away with the law but have it improved.
“The Bill was a direct response to the need to protect the many unemployed citizens in the NCDC (National Capital District Commission) and throughout the country engaged in the informal economy who were constantly harassed by police.”