Government eyeing laws to guide informal sector

By HELEN TARAWA
THE Department of Religion, Youth and Community Development will submit an information paper to the National Executive Council on having some laws to guide the informal sector.
Secretary Anna Solomon told The National that the only legislation was the National Capital District Commission Informal Sector Act.
“We don’t have legislation on the informal sector. What the NCDC has is more on compliance,” she said.
“And there are a lot of issues between that act and the informal economy policy.
“After the NEC goes through the findings, we will hold a forum for stakeholders and present these findings to them to begin the review on the informal economy policy.”
She said the NCDC Informal Sector Act was NCD-based.
“We all wrote our issue paper about the law and the informal economy policy, to have one law which provinces could use as a framework to develop their regulations to regulate this sector.
“That’s one of the main objectives the findings will contribute to,” she said. The report was launched by the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission.
An audit carried out by the department last year had revealed that the informal economy could generate about K12 billion a year.
The report stated that the informal economy could contribute to 20 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.