South Sudan MPs Move to Deny Kenya Lucrative Deal

South Sudanese Members of Parliament have threatened to stop engagements with Nairobi citing the high fees levied by the Kenyan government on imported goods transiting through the country.

The MPs moved to shield their taxpayers from what they termed as an unreasonably high duty that was being charged by Kenya for goods passing through the Nairobi dry port.

According to a South Sudan news publication, The City Review - the lawmakers, through the Finance and Economic Planning Committee in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (RTNLA), suspended the collection of taxes from both the Kenya and South Sudan borders as a way of making their grievances heard.

Further, the MPs called for the immediate stoppage in the  transfer of South Sudan cargo to a private Freight Container Terminal in Nairobi despite the Kenyan government directing that all cargo from Mombasa be transited to the capital city using the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

The committee summoned South Sudan's Minister of Finance and Economic Planning to shed light on the continued rise in market prices and reflect on a solution.

RTNLA moved to suspend the relocation of cargo through Nairobi, opting to have all South Sudan Cargo cleared at the port of Mombasa.

The South Sudan MPs also formed a High-Level Delegation team to probe why the cargo movement changes were effected in Kenya without the involvement of the South Sudan Minister of Transportation.

They will also be seeking answers as to why the South Sudan-bound goods were sent to the Nairobi dry port for clearance at the expense of South Sudan traders who have been complaining of high logistics costs.

This comes amid complaints by the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) who claimed that a deal between Nairobi and Juba was negatively affecting the cargo business.

KTA wrote to international organizations which ship food aid and medicine to South Sudan stating that the two governments had directed that all South Sudan cargo in transit be railed via the SGR from Mombasa to a private facility in Nairobi and 6 private agents given exclusive rights to handle subsequent evacuation to South Sudan.

"By doing this, they are denying the business community and other agencies the right to determine where and who should handle their goods in addition to excluding competition which is vital in the fight against corruption.

"They have abrogated these rights to themselves by assuming these owners of cargo need to be guided and forced on how to conduct their own businesses," KTA argued.