South Sudan clears EAC debts ahead of summit

Arusha. Only a week after the regional Assembly raised a red flag against states failing to remit funds, South Sudan says it has settled debts owed to the East African Community (EAC).

The country, which joined the bloc in 2016, said it has just remitted $7 million to the EAC coffers, apparently settling all debts it owed the organisation.

A statement by the Juba government seen by The Citizen said the monies paid covered all the arrears, including what its mandatory contribution for the current 2023/24 financial year.

It was not clear as to when the country settled hundreds of millions of dollars it owed to the EAC for the past seven years as it has been consistently criticised for failure to remit funds.

The statement only said the government has successfully remitted $7 million to the EAC “which is spread across the arrears and the current 2023/24 financial year respectively”.

Senior EAC officials could not be reached to clarify on this amid reports that the past debts the country owed to the Community could have been written off.

Reports of South Sudan clearing the debts it owed come only days before the country's leader, President Salvar Kiir, takes over as the new Chair of the EAC Summit.

The Summit, which is the supreme organ of the Community, will hold its ordinary summit at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge near Arusha on November 23 and 24.

This will be the first time for the leader of the country, which has been under siege from civil strife, to take over the mantle as the Chair of the seven nation bloc.

According to EAC secretary-general Peter Mathuki, Mr Kiir will succeed President Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi who took over as the Chair in July last year.

Last week, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) warned that countries which do not pay their mandatory contributions risked punitive measures.

These include being denied to host any regional activity as well as its candidates denied jobs in the service of the Community and its organs and institutions.

The warning followed a Motion by Kenyan lawmaker Godffrey Maina Mwangi and seconded by Tanzanian lawmaker in Eala Abdullah Hasnuu Makame.

Article 132 (4) has it that the budget of the Community shall be funded by equal contributions by the partner states and the remainder by the development partners.

As the House adjourned its sitting last week, it emerged that only Tanzania and Kenya had settled their contributions to the EAC coffers by 100 percent.

Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi were also reported to have remitted part of their contributions. There was no word on contributions from DR Congo, the newest member.

The annual expenditure budget for the EAC for 2023/24 financial year, the highest in four years, was tabled in June this year.

A total of $103.8 million is projected for expenditure for the period under review; July 2023 to June 2024. Each of the seven member states will contribute about $7 million to $8 million as mandatory contribution for the budget.