Ministry of Labour Says They Are Ready to Revisit the Trade License Bill

The Trade Licensing Bill is closer to becoming law. When the bill was introduced at the Sitting of the House of Representatives in May, it was met with much backlash from entertainers, micro-business owners, and street vendors as it meant that they would now need to pay a fee to conduct their business. The timing of the bill’s introduction was also criticised since the country was start to rebound after being affected by Covid-19 Lockdowns. Minister of Rural Transformation, Labour, and Local Government, Oscar Requena, updated us on how far along they are in revision process of the bill..  

Oscar Requena, Minister of Labour: “What I can say to you is that again as you know I presented the first reading in the House and there were concerns from certain groups. We undertook a very .. well first of all the bill went to House Committee and at House Committee various persons, organizations had the opportunity to be able to voice their concerns and to present what were the areas that they wanted to see change in the bill and they had an opportunity but apart from that our Ministry undertook a very extensive consultation process with the Chamber of Commerce, the Mayors Association, employers, the business community to see where we could work together to tidy the bill more to make it more palatable if I can use that term and I can say to you that we are at a point where I believe that we have consensus and that bill is now ready to go back to Cabinet for revision and recommendations.”