Kampala — Landlords of city commercial buildings have rejected a presidential directive stopping them from charging toilet fees for tenants and customers.
The public notice issued yesterday sparked anger, with some landlords accusing Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) of misinterpreting the presidential directive. Others wondered whether KCCA will buy toilet papers, pay for water and the cleaners.
President Museveni issued the directive recently during his tour of the city when some tenants reported to him that they were being overcharged.
Following the President's warning, KCCA yesterday issued a public notice, ordering that the use of toilets in city buildings and public places must be free of charge.
The notice, a copy which Daily Monitor has seen, indicated that KCCA would conduct inspections to ensure compliance by business owners and landlords in providing free access to sanitary facilities to their workers and customers.
Justification
KCCA stated that the crackdown would be conducted in line with the laws that govern the city such as the 2010 KCCA Act, the Public Health Act and the Local Governments Act (Sanitation of Buildings byelaws).
But some landlords, who spoke to this newspaper, described the notice as both 'fake' and 'unrealistic'. The landlords argue that KCCA has rushed to issue the notice without engaging them to understand why they charge toilet fees.
"We pay a lot of property tax and charges for the toilets help us to renovate some of those buildings you see in the city," said Mr Jockus Ssembatya, a landlord.
Mr Mansoor Matovu, alias Young, who claims to own 37 buildings in the city, said KCCA cannot give them orders yet they are the same people who approved the buildings for commercial and not residential use.
"Commercial buildings make money and that is why we use every opportunity possible to levy extra charges. Let them build public toilets in the city instead of issuing useless notices. This directive cannot work because these are purely commercial buildings," he said.
He dared KCCA to implement the directive, adding that he would mobilise fellow landlords to shut the buildings.
Mr Drake Lubega, another city landlord, said: "I will go with the majority vote from fellow landlords on whether to stop charging or keep charging toilet fees."
But Mr Peter Kaujju, the KCCA's director of public and corporate affairs, warned that the defiant landlords will face the long arm of the law.
"We will engage landlords this week and next week but those who do not comply will be dealt with as the law requires," he said.
But Daily Monitor understands that the toilet fees collected by some city landlords are computed in the property tax paid to KCCA.
Mr Fred Andema, the KCCA director of revenue collection, told this newspaper that toilets and corridors are not considered while computing property tax of a commercial building. "The toilet fees they charge are illegal because as KCCA, we do not capture toilets as rental space," he said.
Findings
Revealed. A spot-check by Daily Monitor yesterday recorded Shs200 and Shs300 as toilet service fees in most city arcades, depending on where the buildings are located. This means that if a tenant visits a toilet three times a day, he or she pays either Shs600 or Shs900. Similarly, should at least 100 tenants visit a toilet twice a day at a fee of Shs300, this would mean a landlord bagging Shs60,000 a day.
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