Ugandan traders who supplied goods and services to South Sudan have blamed the Minister for Finance and Economic Development, Matia Kasaija for conspiring with some dealers to withhold their compensation.
The traders, who lost property worth billions of shillings during and after the 2013 South Sudan civil war are meant to be compensated in the excess of about Shs150 billion after a directive by the Parliament’s Committee on National Economy. The government in Juba had earlier paid Shs55b.
However, the Ministry of Finance paid only 10 traders yet the list had over 23 companies.
This week, traders from 23 companies with unsettled claims appeared before a committee formed by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to investigate the matter.
Here, they accused Kasaija of singling out and effecting payments to only 10 companies.
Geoffrey Okwir of Gunya Company, who led the group said Kasaija has ignored their several requests for meeting over their unsettled claims.
“To our disappointment and grave shock, the 10 companies that received US$15m in 2015 were paid another US$10.5M in February 2019,” said Okwir, before pleading that they are not sent back to Kasaija because ‘whenever they meet him, he abuses them and asked them why they went to SouthSudan’.
“This is a complex issue, our prayer is that, please look for a way which you can give us money, we are dying. Already, we have lost three of our own due to stress. We are asking, take us back to our mother Ministry which is Trade. We are tired of the Ministry of Finance. Whenever we go, insults only, they even close the doors, they don’t want to hear anything from the traders of South Sudan.”
The committee chairperson, Ann Maria Nankabirwa asked them to come with their documents of transactions to enable them to carry out their probe.
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