Sudan bans check points for taxes

Publication date: Sunday, 31st August, 2008

By David Muwanga

SUDAN has banned all check-points for taxes throughout the country, an official of the embassy has said.

“The check-points have been used by people to collect illegal taxes all over the country. That is why the Sudanese cabinet issued a decree banning all road blocks,” the deputy head of mission, Abd El Rahim El Siddig Mohamed, said.

“According to the decree, all new taxes paid by Ugandan traders must first be agreed upon by the two governments. There should be no double taxation on goods from Uganda,” he said in an interview at the mission’s office in Nakasero, Kampala.

The ban follows a complaint by a Ugandan trader, Patrick Ahaisibwe, who said Ugandans pay over 15 taxes in Sudan.

“From the border, mainly at Nimule, to Juba, a trader goes through over 15 points and pays taxes, which make transactions complicated and time-consuming,” Ahaisibwe said.

Mohamed said the embassy in Kampala and the mission’s counsular office in Gulu were established by the Sudanese government to ease trade between the two countries.

“Unfortunately, they refuse to come to the mission or go to the consular’s office in Gulu. They go directly to the border without any legal documents. That is why they are paying taxes, some of which are illegal,” he said.