South Sudan Won’t Pay Ugandan Businessmen – Gen Kuol
Ugandan businessmen, who are crying foul over failure by the South Sudan government to pay for the goods and services rendered to it, will have to wait longer for their pay. Gen. Pieng Deng Kuol, the new Inspector General of Police for South Sudan says his government is cash strapped and cannot pay for the goods supplied by traders from Uganda and other neighboring countries. Gen. Kuol explains that the country is currently undergoing austerity measures and not in position to pay traders who are demanding for money for supplying goods to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-SPLA.
In economics, austerity describes policies used by governments to address budget deficits during adverse economic situations. These policies include a cut in budget spending, tax increases or a mixture of the two. Gen Kuol explains that for the case of Southern they are trying to bring the physical income closer to the expenditure and as such cannot pay creditors. Lt. Gen. Kale Kayihura, the Inspector General of Police says the Ministry of Trade is compiling a list of businessmen who supplied goods to Southern Sudan but have not been paid.
He however, says that not all claimants are genuine as some want to defraud the Sudanese. Among the Ugandan businessmen who supplied goods to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army include Capt.Mike Mukula. Mukula allegedly lost close to three billion shillings after supplying maize grains to Southern Sudan. According to Kayihura Mukula’s lawyers of Kampala Associated advocates have filed a suit in court over nonpayment of his goods that he supplied to the SPLA. Kayihura says it will be up to the court to decide whether Mukula’s case is genuine. Kampala Capital City Traders Association-KACITA that has been pushing for the payment, has not yet commented on the development. By the time of filing this story the officials were still locked up in a meeting at parliament.