Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A lawmaker from the East African Legislative Assembly is calling on South Sudan to expedite the domestication of a treaty, enabling traders to freely export goods across regional borders.
Hon. Kim Gai, the EALA member says there are pending laws that are not ratified by South Sudan to be permitted to conduct trade freely like any other EAC partnering state.
The call came after fishmongers from South Sudan encountered hurdles, including denied licenses, transit restrictions to Congo, and burdensome taxation.
He added that the Council of Ministers was tasked to prepare the bill, send it to the parliament for approval then assent by the President to make it a law and this has been delayed because the council suspends all the bills that are not related to a peace agreement.
Kim acknowledged that the pending customs duty law is a challenge to all the traders especially those exporting goods to East African countries.
He said they met the relevant stakeholders in February and they agreed that the Ministry of Justice should fast-track the domestication of the treaty.
Gai also attempted and approach the minister of Justice and he said that there are provision orders from the Council of Ministers that any bill that is contrary to the peace agreement should be prioritized.
“South Sudan is not yet ratifying or domesticating the treaty which is required by Article 8 (2) of the treaty of East African Community,” said Hon. Kim.
“Since we joined the Community, the process requires the Council of Ministers to prepare the bill and send it to the Parliament and approve it and assent by the head of State,” he said.
“Until now that has not yet been done by South Sudan which is a big challenge to all our traders. Our institutions and relevant Ministries are not cooperating to solve this problem.
“As lawmakers, we were in Juba in February, we met all the stakeholders of the Minister of Justice, the Minister of EAC, the Minister of Trade, and the Revenue Authority.
“We agreed that domestication of the treaty, the Minister of Justice should fast-track and I met the Ministry of Justice and said that there are provisions order from the council of Ministers which was the resolution that all the bills or laws that are not part of the peace agreement should not be present to the Cabinet.”
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