June 9th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – A German company which is said to be the owner of the machine used by the South Sudanese government to issue passports and other important national documents have reportedly threatened to sue the country’s ministry of interior for failure to pay financial dues the two side agreed in December 2017 to be paid to the German company in mid May 2018, sources at the directorate of passports and immigration told the Nyamilepedia on Saturday.
The German company, one source explained, issued the warning to the ministry of interior on Thursday that it will sue the ministry of interior and close up the issuance process pending a verdict by the court.
“The company said it will first shut-up the system and then drag the ministry to court of law and the process of the issuance will not resume until a verdict by the court,” the source said.
Another source said the government had promised to pay the German company all its money by mid May 2018 in a meeting held in December 2017 but said the government could not pay the company due to the ongoing economic hardship faced by the young African country.
“The German company agreed with the ministry of interior in December that the government will pay the company all its financial dues by mid May 2018, but the government could not pay the money on time because of the economic situation faced by our country,” the source said.
The source said the government has made it very clear to the company that the decision whether it will shut down the process or not saying the government have failed to convince donors to fund the process in order to pay the company but could not do anything helping.
In November 2017, the Germany company closed the process due unpaid financial dues but reached an agreement with South Sudan in December to resume the issuance of the passport and other national identification documents.
