Nimule | Uganda’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, has urged South Sudan’s government to expedite the process of joining the East African Custom Union.
Kadaga made the call during a high-level sensitization meeting on Tuesday at South Sudan’s Nimule border point.
The meeting was held to assess the performance of the One Stop Border Point Strategy (OSBPs), one of the East African Customs Union’s key components.
Kadaga went on to say that this union is a mandatory body for all East African Community member states, and South Sudan’s delay in joining is impeding the promotion of economic growth and development in trade between South Sudan and Uganda.
“The absence of South Sudan in the Custom Union though being a member of the East African Community is greatly affecting the smooth operation of both custom and immigration services at Elegu border point,” Kadaga said.
However, Kadaga noted that South Sudan has delayed joining the union which serves as a basis for better immigration services at the customs within East Africa.
“Absence of South Sudan in the union is greatly affecting the operationalization of other objectives of the union like one stop border points which are now expected to be implemented at all the border points between the East African Community members’ states,” Kadaga added.
The senior Ugandan minister emphasised the urgent need for South Sudan to expedite the implementation of the EAC Customs Union Protocol and reaffirmed Uganda’s commitment to improving border agency collaboration between the two partner states.
She said the Elegu/Nimule border mission served as a testament to the shared commitment by both South Sudan and Uganda towards strengthening cross—border trade and advancing regional cooperation.
“In areas where legislative frameworks to facilitate the implementation of the Customs Union remain pending, I call upon the republic of South Sudan to actively seek support from the EAC Secretariat to conclude the same.
The acceleration is imperative in ensuring that our citizens enjoy the full benefits of the EAC integration,” Kadaga said.
Simon Tumwesigye, the URA Custom officer at Elegu border decried the technological gaps and variation of working time shift between Elegu in Uganda and Nimule in South Sudan.
Tumwesigye repeated the call of the deputy prime minister and cited that the South Sudan government needs to embrace the current change in technology in management of customs so as to reduce the risks and complaints by immigrants.
“We are really facing a problem with technological advancement which is a problem to our counterpart in South Sudan; I appeal to them to embrace these technological advancements in customs and we serve our citizens,” Tumwesigye said.
Beny Gideon Mabor, the Under Secretary in South Sudan’s Ministry of East Africa admits that there are gaps in the customs points both at the border in Elegu and Nimule.
According to Mabor, the government of South Sudan has recently introduced the electronic immigration system whose implementation is still a challenge and they are trying everything possible to see that immigration services are made easier for citizens of East Africa.
“The government has recently introduced the electronic immigration system as a new mode of immigration services at every border point in South Sudan but we still do have a challenge in using these technologies,” Mabor revealed.
Mabor further acknowledged the delay by South Sudan in joining the custom union and affirmed that the government of South Sudan is working hard to come on board and join the custom union since it is a requirement for every member state.
“Recently, we are working around to see that we speed up the process of joining the customs union since it is mandatory for every member state to join the union; so, we are going to join soon,” Mabor explained.
“We have identified several challenges impeding the seamless functioning of One Stop Border Points, ranging from issues within the mandate of partner states to logistical hurdles; and the government of South Sudan is committed to addressing these challenges by implementing necessary measures to operationalize OSBPs.”
Mabor recognized the fact that some of the decisions raised can be expedited without the need for OSBP structures and pledged to implement these with urgency.
Annette Ssemuwemba Mutaawe, Deputy Secretary General Customs, Trade and Monetary Affairs, East African Community, said that the leadership at the East African Community will look into all the concerns raised in the meeting.
Ssemuwemba however called upon all development partners in the member states to come up and sensitised the local community on the benefit of being a member’s state of the East African Community.
Ssemuwemba highlighted the challenges being faced by the immigrants at the immigration points (borders) and appreciated South Sudan for admitting the challenges.
“We have heard of complaints of challenges being met by immigrants at Elegu in Uganda and Nimule in South Sudan but all these can be solved by South Sudan joining the custom union which is key in solving these challenges,” Ssemuwemba said.