The National Trade and Industry Director General for Private Sector, Benson Bol Anyar, has urged South Sudanese to venture into water supply business “to end the monopoly of foreigners.”
Anyar expressed the sentiments on Wednesday during the launch of the South Sudan National Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture specialized committees.
He stated that the only way for South Sudanese to reclaim the water business is through investment in projects throughout the country.
The Director General disclosed that despite their several meetings with the traders to reduce their prices, nothing much had changed.
He further urged the traders to put the welfare of their consumers above profits.
“You are our people and you know how the market has been taken over. The only way to reclaim it is by you venturing into the sector. Ours is a free market and we cannot chase people away. We are only urging our people to venture into the water business legally,’’ he said.
The Chairperson of the South Sudan National Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture, Losidik Lukak, said the government should strengthen the revenue collection like in the neighboring countries to help the economy recover.
Lukak further urged South Sudanese to refrain from taking bribes from the foreign traders for deals that harm the economy.
He said the dollar exchange rate in Uganda had been stable since 2011 because of their strong revenue generation systems.
The Director of the Juba Block, Michael Francis, had during the inspection of the implementation of new water prices, threatened to expel the foreigners defying them.
Francis said some foreign ambassadors accredited to South Sudan claimed to have contributed to the South Sudan independence, to justify their exploitation of the citizens.
He said any first offenders would be fined 350,00 SSP, and the second sent to prison for between six months and one year and if a foreigner, be deported.
“We heard some ambassadors saying, they contributed during the struggle of the South Sudan independence but that does not mean that they can exploit us. We are telling our citizens to stand up for their rights,” Francis said.
The supply of clean drinking water is dominated by foreigners, who recently raised their charges from 2,500 SSP to 6,000 SSP, causing an uproar.