By Nelson Mandela Muhoozi
Members of Parliament on the agriculture, animal industries and fisheries committee have expressed doubt over South Sudan’s results on aflatoxins in Uganda’s grain, saying there is likely to be a political motive behind the results.
During a meeting with officials from the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) on Thursday, the legislators questioned why South Sudan refused to share results of the aflatoxins as requested by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), if the action was done in good faith.
“If the standards bureau of South Sudan has tested our various grains and found aflatoxins, then results should be shared. Unless they share, we have reason to doubt them and conclude that there could be other political agenda informing their actions,” Abed Bwanika (MP Kimaanya-Kabonera Division) said.
Bwanika said the East African Community trade protocols are clear and provide for sharing of results.
“Our tests follow the same procedures using the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) System. So, there is no reason to hide the results. It creates suspicion,” he noted.
Bwanika said using results that cannot be shared with a trade partner state to reject goods is very unfair.
“We urge the Government of South Sudan to follow the guidelines in the trade protocol since they appended their signatures on them,” he urged.
The chairperson of the committee, Janet Okori-Moe (Woman MP Abim), said there is a need to engage the South Sudan government more so that we can get the details.
“We need an inter-governmental engagement to ensure we get the details of what exactly happened. For now, we can’t say they are permanently rejecting our grain because there are those that are on the market even now,” she stated.
Income tax, road user levy to be affected URA’s commissioner for customs, Abel Kagumire, said although there is no direct tax that arises from the exportation of maize, maize flour or beans, the ban on agricultural crops contaminated by mycotoxins will impact the income generated in the agriculture sector.
Additionally, the road user levy on foreign trucks transporting goods, including maize flour and beans to South Sudan will be affected as the number of foreign trucks transporting these products is expected to reduce, according to Kagumire.
The impact of mycotoxins on trade and revenue collection aggravate poverty, which will lead to increased dependency on foreign aid to sponsor effective mycotoxin research and the implementation of mitigation interventions.
Kagumire said Government needs to intervene to reduce the prevalence of mycotoxins and these interventions have a high budget implication in regard to design and implementation.
The issue, he said, impacts the country’s resource envelope. However, Bwanika said URA should conduct tests on products before they are exported, to avoid challenges in this line.
“Let URA give traders export certificates that comply with the export countries. This way, we shall clear our image in the external markets, and minimise the loss that results from this inconvenience,” he stated.
Bwanika added: “Another issue that needs to be tackled is the one of traceability. There is need to track where the maize grain sample comes from, how it has been grown, and other aspects. Kagumire said UNBS is currently conducting a sampling-and-testing exercise with respect to the consignments at Elegu OSBP warehouse.
“The consignments that will fail the Aflatoxin test will be destroyed while those that pass will be issued with certificates of conformity and returned to their respective owners for sale in Uganda,” he said.
Statistics According to URA, in the last financial year, 349 metric tonnes of maize with a customs value amounting to sh137.8b were exported.
About 99% of the maize was exported to EAC partner states. In the same financial year, 19.8 metric tonnes of maize flour with a customs value of sh12.8b were exported, while 99.7 metric tonnes of beans with a customs value of sh73b were exported. About 78% of the beans were exported to the EAC partner states.
Background
Around June, following South Sudan’s concerns regarding the quality of goods or feeds imported from Uganda, the South Sudan National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS) impounded 90 trucks at Elegu-Nimule border containing maize grains, beans, maize flour, wheat from Uganda to South Sudan that were deemed unsuitable for human consumption on allegations that they were contaminated with aflatoxins.
Consequently, in July, the presidential advisory committee on exports and industrial development, Uganda Revenue Authority(URA), Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), and the South Sudan Authorities convened a meeting wherein the South Sudan Authorities immediately released 23 of the 90 trucks to URA.
The 23 trucks contained 27 assorted consignments. UNBS communicated the release of 23 of the 27 assorted consignments as they had passed the aflatoxins test.
The rest (67 trucks) were offloaded and deposited at the Elegu OSBP warehouse under key and lock by SSNBS.
This month, URA received communication from SSNBS confirming that South Sudan did not have interest in the consignments, saying they should be released to their rightful owners upon testing.
