South Sudan parliament passes revenue authority bill

JUBA, OCTOBER 12, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – South Sudan’s Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Wednesday afternoon passed the South Sudan Revenue Authority (Amendment) Bill 2023.

The bill, which consists of twenty-nine chapters, is to equip the NRA with powers and a mandate to regulate the collection of non-oil revenues.

Addressing lawmakers during a parliamentary session in Juba yesterday, the speaker of the transitional parliament Jemma Nunu Kumba said the bill will be taken to President Salva Kiir Mayardit for signing next week

“We are very happy that this very important bill has been passed, the next stage is for His Excellency the President to sign it into law, and he will do that as soon as possible by next week, we need to take this bill plus others we passed early this week and last week to President for signing,” she said.

John Agany Deng, head of the parliamentary information committee and the house’s spokesman said the bill has been reconciled with constitution and regional laws.

“I hope this kind of law will improve the situation and the collection of revenue in the Republic of South Sudan,” he said.

He said the bill set up a mechanism to humanize the collection of revenue across the country, adding that it also guaranteed the autonomy of the institution.

“One of the things which is very important is the autonomy of collection which is done at the country and there are issues pertaining to how much has been given as percentages to tax collectors, they are not paid like any other employees in the ministry because they are the custodian of the money,” he said.

He said the name of the bill has been changed from “National Revenue Authority” to “South Sudan Revenue Authority” to reconcile with East Africa Community and the constitution.