Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Eastern Equatoria State government is demanding equal responsibility in the collection of revenue at the Nimule border point.
Mary Lodira, the state deputy governor, said there were many people working on the border without the knowledge of the state authorities.
She said the state has been losing a substantial amount of revenue at the hands of such unauthorised individuals.
She was speaking during the stakeholders’ consultative workshop on the five-year plan for the revenue collection in the state capital, Torit, on Thursday.
The workshop, which brought hundreds of participants from the state ministries, was aimed at improving revenue collection in the state.
“Let me begin with the issue of Nimule… I want to know who is giving these people the authority to do the collection. “I don’t have the answer,” Mary said.
She said those assigned to collect money at the border point had alleged that their actions were backed by the law.
To solve this, the deputy governor called on the national government to involve the Torit administration before deploying any officers at the border point.
She stressed the need to implement the federal system to benefit the local people.
“The central government will be given a share but not a full collection to give room for some development in the state.”
“We want a federal system where all the resources and the decision-making are calculated for the grassroots,’’ she said.
“The revenue collection must be organised and the state government must give the central government its share.” “There is nobody who can cook food and demand somebody to give a share for you. That will not happen and why is it only in Eastern Equatoria?” she lamented.
Mary urged the stakeholders to educate the grass-root population about the importance of collecting revenues in the state.
She said it was through revenue collection that the government could get funds for the improvement of some development in the state.
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