Juba, South Sudan, 22 May 2021 – The Juba City Council has ordered the business community in South Sudan to fulfill their obligation of giving back to the community by practicing social corporate responsibility.
Speaking during a market tour on 21st May 2021, Juba City Mayor Moulana Kalisto Lado Faustino Nyigilo Wani said delivering on corporate social responsibility as part of the bylaw but the business community has not abided by it.
“We are saying traders are development partners, traders are stakeholders, traders are friends of Juba City Council in development. And in this juncture, I’m requesting all the businessmen to see that they implement what they are supposed to do, such as social corporate service. Like this area Amitabha, the business companies that are operating here should always repair this road,” Kalisto said.
“It is the responsibility of all the business community that is operating around this area to make sure that they get the throw. You don’t need Juba City Council to come here and grade this road. What is your social corporate responsibility? This is there all over the world. You should grade this road,” he added, making reference to routes that cut across markets.
The Mayor also called on the business community to strictly abide by the City Council bylaws, threatening to revoke trading licenses of those that would not comply.
“Juba City Council has a direct responsibility towards all the people in Juba City and therefore to all the business community members. Public order is a must for everybody. We can fine you now, if you continue to violate the law we will find you again and we’ll fine you always,” he said.
“And if you continue to violate we will even take away from you your trading license and will prohibit you from trading in this area. You want to trade in this city, you respect the laws of South Sudan, you respect the local government act, you must respect the bylaws of the City Council,” warned the Mayor.
Kalisto commended the Somalia Business Community for keeping up with regulatory guidelines of the City Council.
“Today we are happy because all our businessmen in Nasara Marhaba have all their goods inside their shops and this is how we want you to be,” he said with the Chairman of Somalia Community in South Sudan listening.
“You can see. Now the road is open and even you can see, everything is beautiful here. This is what we want and we thank the Somalian Community for their cooperation with the Juba City Council. Therefore, we don’t want any intervention when we are performing our work, we don’t want any intervention from anybody with the work that we are doing as long as it is in accordance with the law.
The Mayor urged the business community to direct any challenge that may make them fail to abide by the bylaw through the Chamber of Commerce.
“Any business Community must channel to us through the Chamber of Commerce. We have the Juba City Chamber of Commerce. We have the Central Equatoria State Chamber of Commerce. And these are the Chambers of commerce through which you can channel yourself to Juba City and it is us to solve any dispute that will occur between you and your Chamber of Commerce. If we cannot handle it, we will raise it to the state level,” he said
“So, we are very happy that Juba City Council is working hand in hand with all the business community on the public order and the issue of health and sanitation is actually there to be implemented on a daily basis and we are calling on all our traders to stop littering anyhow, to stop dumping garbage anyhow, and to maintain all the health regulations of Juba City Council. And together, we will make Juba a better place,” Kalisto said.
