Bureau of Standards warns against illicit liquor
The South Sudan National Bureau of Standards has raised concerns about the standards of the alcohol imported into the country.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organisation, Dr Mary Muortat, said people have been consuming illicit and highly concentrated alcoholic drinks smuggled into the country at the expense of safety.
She revealed that both the national and local governments have discovered that such gins have been killing young people.
”This type of alcohol is now widely used. A lot of business communities see alcohol as a business that brings a lot of money,” she stated.
Dr. Mary said the government had formed a committee to investigate and come up with a solution. She added that they will ensure that the cost of alcohol is increased so that it cannot be afforded by young people.
“We discovered in this market that there are so many types of alcohol that you would never believe that they have come to South Sudan, and how? Nobody can say. This (alcohol) is more than 100 millilitres and is killing our young people,” Mary added.
“So, the government formed a committee to look into this and try to come up with a solution. The government stopped the importation of gin of that size. Gin was 37-40% which was very high. The prices have to be increased so that our youngsters cannot buy.”
However, the CEO of the Bureau noted that the issue of importing substandard food had been reduced because the bureau had deployed over 40 staff at the borders to check commodities imported to reduce the entry of substandard food into the country.
She urged the business community to buy standardised items from the neighbouring countries for the good health of their citizens, adding that substandard food would be discarded when found.
Expired goods
In November 2021, the government of South Sudan at the fifth governors’ forum resolved to strengthen the capacity of the South Sudan Bureau of Standards (SSNBS), to salvage the country from the consumption of substandard goods smuggled into the country from neighbouring countries.
The First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, noted that workers from the bureau must be deployed at the borders to check goods brought into the country to limit the consumption of expired products. He added that traders should be warned against such practices.
“And then we must warn our business people not to bring expired goods,” Dr. Machar said.
The Executive Director of the National Bureau of Standards, Mary Gordon Muortat, stated that the neighbouring countries had turned South Sudan into what she called a “dumping ground”, for commodities of no substance.
She added that the neighbouring countries had factories that manufactured fake products meant for South Sudanese consumption.
“Although we are trying to build our country, we have forgotten that we have joined the international arena where trade speaks louder. We have seen an influx of a lot of expired goods coming to South Sudan and we have not actually taken a very strong stance against it,” said Mary.
“Majority of the countries that are our neighbouring countries have taken the opportunity that we are still giving ourselves to dump anything on us that has expired, including creating factories manufacturing goods exclusively for South Sudan. These are things like building materials, and I am sure all of you have experienced houses falling apart; our materials are not up to standards.”
Mary blamed the government for not providing them support, either through funding or capacity building.
She disclosed that the East African Trademark had bought a machine for testing goods for the bureau and appealed for support from the government to make the machine operational. She called for bilateral talks with the neighbouring countries to stop selling a substandard commodities to South Sudan and help curb smuggling.
