The President has declined to assent to the recently enacted Competition Act and has returned it to Parliament for reconsideration. The Act was passed by Parliament in May 2023.
In his letter to the Speaker of Parliament last month, President Museveni queried the creation of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission under the law saying that the creation of new statutory authorities was contrary to the current government policy of rationalisation.
As tabled in Parliament, the administration of the new law was by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives. However, the Parliamentary Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry proposed to create an independent commission as has been done in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. This proposal was accepted by Parliament and passed.
Parliament is now expected to reconsider this issue. It is best practice for an independent body to administer a competition law as a quick survey will show.
It will be interesting to see how Parliament responds to President Museveni's comments. It is some comfort that he did not have any issue with the substantive competition law principles in the Act, given that some of the government's decisions have not always been favourable towards competition.
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