The Mayor of Juba City Council, Michael Lado Allah-Jabu, has blamed traders for the high market prices, arguing that the business community have continued to hike prices despite paying lower taxes.

Allah-Jabu differed with the complaints raised by the traders that they were being overtaxed at the entry points.

The mayor said in a press statement yesterday that South Sudan is a free market bound by the policy; hence, traders cannot be affected.

 “I do not agree with those traders because three-quarters of our traders in Juba are opportunists. Our market is a free market, and it is the policy of the government of South Sudan, to keep our market open due to low productivity. That is why everything is brought from outside,” Allah-Jabu said.

 “When they bring goods from there, sometimes they only pay $300 for the whole container. But yet, they put a lot of markups on the prices of their goods,” he added.

He said the government, especially the City Council, understands that traders also pay taxes at the border points in Nimule and Nadapal, but the taxes cannot be compared to what the city council collects from traders.

“I am aware that what they are paying at the border is nearly 80 per cent but what we are collecting here is only a small amount of money for services, garbage collection, among other things and we do this in accordance with the Local Government Act 2009,” he said, as he defended the city council.

In November 2021, before the appointment of Allah-Jabu, the council has promised to reduce higher taxes on businesses following growing complaints from traders that they were subjected to endless taxes.

In his address to traders at Customs, the Juba City Deputy Mayor for Infrastructure and Development, Thiik Thiik Mayardit acknowledged in his address to traders that traders’ complaints were genuine and were being addressed.

However, he blamed some “corrupt” individuals within the Juba City Council for coming up with exorbitant charges that are denying the traders profits.