National Revenue Authority office in Juba | Credit | African Development Bank

The government will soon hire a foreign expert as replacement for the Commissioner-General for the National Revenue Authority, according to the minister of finance and economic planning.

Last week, Salvatore Garang fired NRA boss Dr. Olympio Attipoe over unexplained reasons.

In a Ministerial order seen by Eye Radio, Garang appointed Attipoe’s deputy to take charge in an acting capacity.

The sacking angered members of the public who questioned where the minister derived the powers to terminate Attipoe’s services.

The Ghanaian national was appointed by President Salva Kiir last year through an agreement with the African Development Bank.

“We are not going to do internally unless we want to cancel that support given to us by the African Development Bank and so we are going to start all over again by advertising it and select the best,” Garang told the state-run SSBC Tuesday.

“The selection of the new commissioner will be done the same way he [Dr. Attipoe] was selected.”

However, Salvatore did not mention the exact higher authorities from which he sought advice to fire Dr. Attipoe.

Since his appointment, he had been ensuring that all the taxes collected were publicized every 30 days – a move that made some senior government officials uncomfortable.

Dr Attipoe also identified and blocked fraudulent business schemes such as an attempt by businessman Ayii Duang to illegally screen all foreign and local businesspeople.

He also in July revoked a tax exempt status of a multi-million dollar road construction company – a status that was backed up by the Minister in the Office of the President, Mayik Ayii Deng.