South Sudan kick starts verification of Uganda traders' claims

The Government of South Sudan (GoSS) has established a committee to verify the authenticity of Ugandan traders, claiming compensation for supplying goods to South Sudan before and after the 2013 civil war.

This was revealed by the South Sudan’s Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Goc Makauc Mayol, on Monday May 6, 2019, during a meeting with Ugandan Members of Parliament.

“Our direction is now clear, the 3 ministries have agreed to form a committee to look into issues of traders, Ministry of Defence has already submitted its representatives, and ours will be ready today” said Makauc.

Makauc added that “the committee we have formed will sit, strategise and call you [MPs] up with possible queries. Whatever the committee will come up with, will be brought to the attention of the three ministries to take a decision."

The South Sudan based verification committee is a 5 man committee comprised of officials from the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs and Ministry of Trade, Industry and East African Affairs.

Ugandan legislators implored the verification committee to fast track the process for traders who fall into Category A.

These are the traders who claim to have been at the level of payment; some had received cheques that bounced, others had bank guarantees that failed, while some received part payment from government of South Sudan.

“Our humble prayer and request is that you check out faster those whose claims had reached the level of payment, so that we guide Government of Uganda accordingly” said Ann Maria Nankabirwa, the chairperson of the Select Committee investigating traders’ compensation claims.

Nankabirwa noted that the verification committee will however require ample time to thoroughly assess, the documents of other traders who supplied different government agencies.

“We agree that with traders who signed contracts with Ministry of Defence and other government agencies, your committee needs time to do thorough checks," she said.

The Ugandan team supplied the verification committee with documents of claimants approved by Uganda’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives.