Kampala Central Member of Parliament, Muhammad Nsereko has asked government to give landlords a waiver on rental tax to allow them waiver rent on their tenants who are on the verge of losing their businesses.
On Monday, a number of landlords in the city centre locked traders shops over rent arrears that accumulated during the period of the Coronavirus-induced lockdown.
While appearing on NBS Television’s Morning Breeze, Nsereko urged the landlords to instead “fight for a loan waiver” from government because if the tenants leave, the landlords will also be left with no money.
The legislator argued, “We have to be realistic, the landlords have loans. The government should give them a waiver on rental tax; they will automatically waive rent.”
“If this government wishes, it can buy out the landlords in Kampala, and they waive the rent for tenants,” Nsereko said.
Nsereko said that the ongoing bickering between the landlords and their tenants is one of the symptoms that businesses are collapsing due to the lockdown measures that were put in place by government to curb the spread of the Coronavirus.
Nsereko said, “I personally wasn’t happy with the lockdown measures. We would have put in place district lockdown and encourage people to continue working as we carry out different tests to see who is infected.”
“For every Ugandan that goes hungry, the President has got to be held accountable. Let us learn to vote for values. Your lifeline is how you survive economically,” he added.
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