Business fraternity demands for practical commercial laws

Why commercial laws? The Prosecutor’s Manual alone does not provide a permanent prescription to illegitimate economic crimes.

The country’s private sector apex body wants government to expedite commercial legislations currently gathering dust in Parliament, saying it will provide a more solid prescription to illicit trade and other economic crimes whose effects retard economic growth.
According to Mr Gideon Badagawa, the executive director of Private Sector Foundation Uganda(PSFU), although the launch of the recent Prosecutors Manual on illicit trade— a raft of guidelines to quicken illicit trade investigations—is a commendable effort, it does not provide a permanent prescription to illegitimate economic crimes.
For that, he wants government to expedite legislation on Counterfeit and Anti-money laundering Bills that have not been passed by Parliament yet.
“It is one thing to have a set of guideline to help deal with something and it is another thing to have a substantive law, but we will prefer to have a substantive law,” Mr Badagawa said in an interview after the launch of the illicit trade manual recently.

Among the things the private sector foundation now wants in the Counterfeit Bill is to have those engaged in illicit trade bankrupted and put out of business, arguing that unless punishment for such crimes is punitive, those involved will not take heed.

Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) chairman, Mr Everest Kayondo, whose members are among those being accused of propelling illegitimate trade told the Daily Monitor: “All along we have been calling for a law not just for counterfeits but also substandard goods.”

And the absence of the law, according to Mr Kayondo, explains why illicit trade is becoming a matter of concern.

The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr Richard Butera is working on a law that will reclaim wealth from those engaged in illicit crimes.

iladu@ug.nationmedia.com