Trucks await clearance at the Nimule yard, Photo Credit | Daniel Deng

Confusion as a result of inexperience among customs officers and dealers to use an installed digital system has caused the recent buildup of commercial vehicles at the border point, a clearance agent at the Nimule border point has said.

Last week, hundreds of inbound commercial trucks and other vehicles from East Africa were stuck at the Nimule checkpoint for three days.

This was after the government launched a digital system in a major shift to modernize revenue collections at the border.

‘What happened was that on the 1st of March, the custom authorities introduced digitization of the system to all the Custom commercial vehicles. It was a new experience to everyone,” Deng Daniel, a clearance agent in Numule said.

The new system was intended to ease the movement of goods and people as well as to enhance transparency in revenue collection.

However, it was faced with numerous challenges including delays in approvals, lack of electricity and slow internet connection in the first three days of its implementation.

“The work was not that effective and people didn’t know where to start. So a lot of people are now trying to engage and trying to know what they are supposed to do.”

But, the clearing agents have begun to cope with the system and the traffic jam is easing now, saying “the work is normalizing and everyone is learning what is supposed to be done.”