Vet Traders’ documentation before payment – Attorney General

The Attorney General, Hon. William Byaruhanga, has said the traders who are seeking compensation for losses made in South Sudan should be authenticated before payments are made.

Byaruhanga said this while appearing before the Select Committee investigating the payment of traders who operated in South Sudan.

This was during the meeting on Thursday,  28 March 2019 where he was tasked to explain why only 10 companies out of 23 approved by Parliament were paid.

“By 2016, we found that the Ministries of Trade and Finance had already verified these companies. The Government of South Sudan needed to confirm that there was the supply of goods,” he said.

The Masaka Municipality MP, Hon. Mathias Mpuuga challenged Byaruhanga to examine the contract details.

“As the Attorney General, you should be able to look critically at all the contracts and scrutinise every detail before providing legal advice,” he said.

Byaruhanga said that his office deals with all entities of government and that they do not go into details of any contract.

“Our role is to make sure that the contracts are legally binding and they conform to what the law requires. We give legal advice but the line ministry, in this case, the Ministry of Trade, has to look at the contract, ” he explained