Participants at the Zone 72 Youth Discussion pose for a photo at Eye Radio on Saturday, August 19, 2023. (Photo: Awan Moses)

A youth advocate in Juba said Saturday the tax system in the country is one of the reasons young people cannot access jobs or start successful businesses.

David Ayuel, who is also a youth representative at the National Constitution Amendment Committee stated that business owners are overtaxed by different government bodies.

Ayuel said tax collectors also levy a huge amount of money on entrepreneurs in the name of assessment form fees.

“The tax system in this country is very crippling. Boma is collecting, the City Council is collecting, the national government is collecting, Payam is collecting, and this is a business that could be producing only 25 thousand per day,” Ayuel said.

He was speaking during Eye Radio Zone 72 roundtable discussion on Youth and Employment.

“Someone is giving you an assessment form for seven hundred thousand (700,000), where are you going to get that? Those are the things that are not allowing our young people to access jobs”.

On his part, Atem Daniel, the Founder of the South Sudan Entrepreneurs Association says there is a need for some negative cultural perceptions about employment must be amended.

“Women are victim of these cultures, that if a lady says that she wants to work as a waitress in a restaurant, the first thing that comes to the mind is that she will get exposed to men,” Atem said.

‘That is what we need to discourage we need to tell our communities that it is okay for a young lady to start from scratch, and this is where experience come but if we keep them in the house and when they become elderly, they will not be able to do anything because they did not acquire skills when they were young”.

“We need to amend some of the cultures as South Sudanese, because if we do not amend these cultures, it will hinder many young people to get opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Ajah Tabitha Chol, a representative of the refugees and Internally Displaced Persons at the Forum, emphasized the use of technology by young people to catch up with the rest of the world.

“As a young South Sudanese, I believe technological knowledge is key to maintaining a good position in this coming generation, because the world is evolving,” she said.

“Every single time things are changing, and as young people, for us to catch up and take South Sudan to another level, we have to embrace technology, we have to embrace working with people we cannot see.”

“We have to do things other countries are doing than we have this challenge of South Sudanese thing every time we have to remain in the same culture it is really painful, we have to do something.”

She adds: ‘We have to embrace technology to make sure South Sudan goes to another level”.

The roundtable discussion was part of celebrating the International Youth Day.