Flow of goods interrupted in Nimule as importers protest high taxes

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Flow of goods interrupted in Nimule as importers protest high taxes

Author: Okot Emmanuel | Published: Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Trucks await clearance at the Nimule yard, Tuesday, 7 September 2021 | Credit | Daniel Deng

The flow of goods into the country have been interrupted after importers decry exorbitant taxes allegedly by a Ugandan Company, the Chairman of Clearance Agent has said.

According to Deng Daniel, the said company was contracted by South Sudan authority to manage Electronic Cargo Tracking.

He stated that as of yesterday [Monday] Cargo and fuel trucks had not entered the country through the Nimule border.

According to Deng, K-polygone multinational Company who is contracted by the government to issue Import certificates for all cargo destined to South Sudan has contracted a subcontractor company in Uganda to do the job.

He points out that IVESCO Uganda Limited, which is subcontractor of K-polygone multinational, has implied a number of charges that the importers are unwilling to pay.

This he says has made the importers and their drivers unable to proceed with goods to South Sudan.

“The idea was brilliant because the government wanted to collect the data base but what has happened here is the implementation has affected the drivers more especially the importers,” Deng told Eye Radio on Tuesday.

“As I am speaking, the K- polygone, the main contracted company went and subcontracted another company in Uganda, it is called INVESCO, this company is handling everything and they are issuing certificates of import.

The Chairman of Clearance Agent says there are a lot of charges that have been implied by the company.

“There are a lot of charges that have been implied, that is the administration fee, commission fee and taxes that the company have put on depending on the quantity an importer is importing to South Sudan,”

“The issue at hand now is that the money called by the contractor is higher and the importer is not ready to pay at the moment.”

Deng added that: “Since morning there are no fuel trucks that entered into South Sudan and if it continues for more days like this, we are going to have shortages and other commodities. As we all know this is a festive season. There is high demand for goods in the market.”

“My message to the government is that they need to revise how this system is supposed to be implemented and they need to go to the ground and monitor the implementation.”

For his part, Sudi Mwatela, a representative of the East African Long Distance Driver’s Association explained the impact of the new development on their work.

“A lot of trucks are now parked at Malaba and Busia and others are parked in Karuma in Uganda for payment to be made before they are released, so notice was given and the importers have not complied,” Sudi said.

“They are requiring every cargo truck to pay $50 and after that they need a payment of $5 per ton and there is another payment that is called intervention, it has to be calculated.

“If a transporter charge is 3 million Ugandan shillings then 1.8% of the transportation has to be paid to INVESCO Uganda Limited which is in partnership with K-polygone of South Sudan.”

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