Members of Parliament have passed a Bill banning the importation of used vehicles whose date of manufacture goes above 15 years, honouring recent proposals from car dealers.
On Wednesday, MPs partook in a heated debate the issue, some in support while others against it.
Like the private sector, legislators against the ban argued that majority of Ugandans were incapable to afford the newer vehicles given their income.
The Traffic and Road Safety Act 1998 (Amendment) Bill 2018 provides for banning importation of motor vehicles that are eight years old or more from the date of manufacture. The same Bill provides for variation of motor vehicle registration fees as well as environmental levy on vehicles.
The basis of the tough amendments by government has to do with the danger that the emissions from these cars cause on the environment.
Initially, the Ministry of Finance proposed a ban on cars manufactured beyond a period of 8 years. But the Parliament Committee on Finance after consultations with the relevant stakeholders instead proposed a phased ban beginning with vehicles with a 20 age limit.
Both MPs Allan Sewanyana (Makindye East) and Robert Centenary (Kasese) on Wednesday proposed that the age limit be pushed to 30 years citing the example of Members of Parliament most of who drive cars in the 30 year age bracket.
“The aspect of age is farfetched if we need to maintain people in employment. Even us as MPs very few of us can afford new cars, even me myself. The moment we crowd out a certain category of people, it is being unfair to Ugandans,” MP Robert Centenary submitted.
Recently, in their reaction to the proposed ban weeks ago, the car dealers in Kampala said that the policy was Ill informed and bound to fail in a country like Uganda where even MPs purchase used vehicles on credit.
Read More: Car Dealers: Proposed Ban on Used Vehicles Dangerous to the Economy
Marvin Ayebale, the Secretary General of Associated Motor Dealers said that 11,000 people who are currently employed in the car industry would be left jobless.
They said that out of the 50,000 vehicles imported by Uganda annually, only 10% are new vehicles fall under the 8 year age limit (manufactured after 2011. They asked that government revises the threshold from 8 years to 15 years.
At the end of the discussion on Wednesday, the State Minister for Planning, David Bahati yielded to the pressure of the legislators and pushed the vehicle age limit to 15 from the initial 8 years.
“You have been given the opportunity to protect the environment, but you have chosen to defy it. I want the House to consider issue of the years, 20 years is a long time, we want to have middle ground of 15 years,” Bahati said.
Government draws an annual income of Shs 180 bn from imported cars in taxes.