Nimule bridge, a stone throw away from Ugandan border side post, Elegu - Courtesy

The Minister of Finance and Planning has shut down security organs that are allegedly involved in collecting illicit fees at the border town of Nimule.

Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol told reporters in Nimule town that there are so many collections at the border point-something he describes as “much painful to the importers and consumers.”

Dr Barnaba did not mention the number of offices that he closed but they belong to the Criminal Investigative Department, traffic police, and other institutions.

He said they now only have four institutions at the border collecting taxes that are authorized by the law and financial.

These include the National Revenue’s Customs Service, the Ministry of Trade, the South Sudan Bureau of Standards, and the Eastern Equatoria State Revenue Authority.

Dr Barnaba added that the unnecessary collection of fees has damaged the reputation of South Sudanese.

“There are so many collections at the border point, collections are that so much painful to the importers and even to the consumers, so I have a bold decision on several things,’ Bak said.

“We will have only four institutions at the border collecting taxes are authorized by the law and financial bill, so these institutions are customs, the ministry of trade, the South Sudan Bureau of Standard and the Eastern Equatoria state Revenue Authority they have a fee that they collecting here,” he said.

“The rest of the institutions, like the security organs, the CID, the other police organs, like traffic police, and other institutions we have closed them down.”

“It’s unnecessary to collect illegal fees and this has caused us damage, as a country it has damaged our reputation, it has damaged the face of South Sudanese, I think it’s time to stop illegal collections, so we have demonstrated.”

He also closed over 51 clearance agencies’ offices over expired certificates.

“There are also clearance agencies whose certificates have expired, we have closed down their offices over 51 clearance agencies,” Dr Bak said.

“We are also working on making sure we verify their performance if their performance is delaying the passage of vehicles to Juba, then we will have to seek for alternative,

“Issues of cash collection we have stopped that because all the collection is supposed to be done through the banking system.”

Last year, the National Revenue Authority introduced an electronic tax portal aimed at improving accessibility to all taxpayers within the Republic of South Sudan.