The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) says an elaborate process is underway before the Rent Control Board is tabled in the National Assembly.
In 2015, the Cabinet passed a resolution requiring the government to introduce measures to regulate the rental market with a view to preventing the current exploitation of tenants by landlords.
The Rent Control Bill, which is supposed to activate the Rent Control Board to address steep property rental prices, needs to be tabled in the National Assembly by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development.
However, the bill does not appear on the list of bills expected to be tabled in the National Assembly during its current session.
But the Executive Director of the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, Daniel Nghidinua, says the bill is not yet ready for tabling.
Nghidinua explains that the Ministry inherited the rent control bill from the Trade Ministry, adding that there are four components to the process before it is tabled.
These components are the draft bill itself, the regulations for the bill to be fully operational once it is enacted, a rent control policy, and an implementation action plan for when the bill is enacted.
Nghidinua points out that the Ministry had engaged a team of consultants on these issues, and the scope of the engagement had to change last year to include all these components, resulting in a more elaborate process to be followed.
A Rent Control Board was set up in 2018 after the Affirmative Repositioning Movement took the then Minister of Industrialization, Trade, and SME Development, Tjekero Tweya, to court, accusing the minister of failing to enforce certain laws.
In 2020, the Minister of Industrialization and Trade, Lucia Iipumbu, handed over the processes and functions of the Rent Control Board to the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Utoni.
Responding to a question by Popular Democratic Movement MP Maximillian Katjimune in the National Assembly in November last year, Urban and Rural Development Minister Erastus Uutoni said the Rent Control Bill was being subjected to a meticulous review by a team of experts before it would be tabled in the National Assembly. Uutoni also stated that the ministry is making progress and asked for patience to ensure all bases are covered.