South Sudan won’t compensate Ugandan drivers

JUBA – The government of South Sudan has refused to compensate Ugandan truck drivers who lost goods following highway attacks by suspected rebel forces along Juba-Nimule highway.

This came after Ugandan truck drivers who were engaged in transporting goods to South Sudan demanded compensation for loss of their goods, vehicles and lives before they can resume work.

Speaking after a meeting yesterday, Africano Mande, Deputy Commissioner-General of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), said the government of South Sudanese does not have any mandate to compensate truck drivers.

“Such individuals must be insured comprehensively and they must also insure their properties because it is not within our mandate to start compensating, otherwise we will end up demanding compensation for South Sudanese families who have lost their lives because of the insurgency of LRA when they crossed into the territory of South Sudan.  They should equally be compensated,” Mande was quoted by SSBC saying.

Mande revealed that there were a series of interventions that has been made as a result of the demand by the leaders of truck drivers but excluding compensation.

“We do recognize that South Sudan is a high risk area because of the fact that there is a high intensity of certain armed groups still operating along highways,” he said.

“We want to categorically say that it is a matter of choice for anybody who wants to come to South Sudan to recognize that there are risks to take,” he added.

He believed South Sudan like other countries also faced issues of insecurities.

“There may be some problems here and there but I believe even the United States of America is not under the control of its territory 100 percent, there still are some criminals’ activities that will cause problems,” he explained.