South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The government has renewed licenses for 51 clearing agencies after it halted their operation in the Nimule border over failure to renew their licenses.
Deng Daniel, Chairman for South Sudan Clearing Agents Freight Forwarding Association, said that the private companies resumed work after they discovered they had presented an invalid list of 2022 to the finance minister.
Deng said that the list for 2023 showed that the companies have valid documents.
“What happened last year during the visit of the Minister of Finance and other accompanying delegations to the border of Nimule, the statistic or the list that was given to the Minister concerning the companies operating in Nimule was not an actual updated list for that particular time,” Deng told The Dawn in Nimule on Friday.
On November 29, 2023, the Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Bak Barnaba Chol shut down the operation of 51 clearing agencies at the Nimule border over failure to renew their licenses during his visit which aimed to spearhead economic reform policies.
“The list was for 2022 and of course, we were in December 2023. The actual list did show the actual figure 51 companies have been closed and immediately after the meeting, we went for the screening and we found out that those 51 were valid, they were not invalid as stated by the minister of finance,” Deng said.
Deng said the clearing companies are currently operating normally with valid documents.
“They are operating and of course, as we are in the New Year maybe there might be some companies that have expired licenses, they are also renewing but theirs expired. So the 51 companies are working, they are operating with valid documents,” he said.
Clearing agents are experts who assist in getting goods cleared through customs formalities, coordinating with the carrier and handling shipping and delivery-related activities.
