Ugandan traders in South Sudan to be compensated

Ugandan finance minister, Hon. Matia Kasaija, updating the House on the compensation due to Ugandans who traded with South Sudan in 2008. [Photo: Ugandan Parliament Website]

The government of Uganda’s ministry of finance is in the final stages of processing payments for the Ugandan traders who supplied goods to South Sudan and whose claims were verified to be true.

The government of Uganda’s ministry of finance is in the final stages of processing payments for the Ugandan traders who supplied goods to South Sudan and whose claims were verified to be true.

The protracted payment process is in the final stages, awaiting cabinet approval, Uganda’s finance minister, Matia Kasaija, said in a press statement issued last week.

"The outcome of the verification of additional claimants was presented and discussed in various meetings with traders, and thereafter submitted to cabinet for consideration," Kasaija said.

"This matter, therefore, awaits the conclusion of internal processes and subsequent joint verification with the government of the Republic of South Sudan," he added.

"We, therefore, wish to inform the Uganda South Sudan traders who submitted their documentation for verification that their claims were verified and a report prepared, which is awaiting cabinet consideration," the minister said.

Kasaija added that the government of Uganda is committed to ensuring that the traders are paid off, but those prudent claimants are obtained.

The government of South Sudan paid the equivalent of nearly a million dollars to domestic contractors to supply food to state governments ahead of a projected famine in 2008 but most of the food was never delivered. Some of the domestic contractors subcontracted Ugandan traders in a scandal that became known as the ‘Dura saga’ grain fraud.