By William Madouk
Chairperson of the specialized committee on Trade and Industry in the National Assembly has urged the South Sudan National Bureau of Standards to tighten its grip on goods safety to avoid political disputes.
MP Mayen Deng Alier stated that all East African Community member states should harmonize their testing to prevent political conflicts during the importation of goods.
“The most important thing is that as a region we have to work as a team – we must all do the same test,” said Alier.
“I believe South Sudan in terms of technical and investment, we cannot compare ourselves with any country in the region but I believe with support in terms of capacity building, exchange of knowledge we can reach there,” he added.
Legislator Alier made this remark during a two-day workshop arranged by SSNBS including the EAC secretariate standards to raise awareness on regional quality awards that are slated to take place this year.
“The same kind of standard that is used in Kenya, Uganda and other countries should be the same that is use in South Sudan so that the lab results that you get and analyses of these results should be generic,” Alier stressed.
He noted that the region has existed for thirty years; thus, South Sudan must speed up to catch up with EAC member states.
“We don’t want the situation whereby goods that is approved for consumption in Uganda when it comes to South Sudan you find that it is not consumable and we end up in political issues in some of these things,” he stated.
“The good example is the issue of aflatoxin in some of maize flour, another good example is the issue of our fish and I can give varieties for some of these,” the lawmaker continued.
To him, goods quality should be a primary objective of producers and traders to “make sure that as you guarantee the safety of your people or consumers. you should also guarantee the safety of the other consumers in the region.’
“When they [goods] come here [in South Sudan, what we should be doing is just to confirm that if the results that were given are the same. if at all some of these things are well calibrated, they should give almost the same results – of course with some error here and there but should not more than what is [not] allowed.”
He enticed investors and traders to invest in South Sudan “we encourage our investors to set up industries and other things,
“Take this to your countries that South Sudan is very rich in resources, and is a very ready market for those who are willing to invest, especially in setting up business you are all welcome, our taxes are very friendly and our workers are also friendly – it is not very expensive.”