Reprieve as South Sudan handed access to accounts in Kenya

South Sudan can now access two bank accounts held in Nairobi on condition that the Juba administration leaves US$49.3 million (Sh5.4 billion) untouched.

A Kenyan high court ruled on Tuesday, March 9, that the country could access the accounts held in NCBA and Stanbic banks, as a legal dispute against a local firm, Yusung Construction, continues.

The firm, allied to a local Cyrus Jirongo, is claiming Sh5.4 billion from the South Sudan government after being contracted in 2008 to construct Dr John Garang Memorial Military Academy, four warehouses and fuel depots.

Kenyan press reported earlier this year that the project was to run from 2007 to 2011 and it attracted a debt of US$18 million, which translated into US$49 million due to interest which piled at US$2.7 million per month over the years.

Yusung has confessed to being paid a US$24 million down payment which it said was used up in the process as South Sudan kept changing the sites for the facility due to flooding.

The firm further accused the government of kicking it out of the country in 2011 making it even impossible to finish the job.

South Sudan, on the other hand, argued on the affidavit filed by the Ministry of Finance and Planning First Undersecretary Garang Majak Bol through Macharia-Mwangi & Njeru Advocates that the firm did nothing and therefore warrants no payment.

Justice Joseph Sergon’s ruling rescinds an injunction he had issued on March 3, 2021, ordering the Bank of South Sudan not to transact any money held in the two accounts.

Disturbed with quest for answers, Yusung Construction ran to the East African Court of Justice to file a case against Juba to compel the government to release the balance plus interest.

Cases brewing

It took longer until November 26, 2020, when an out court deal was initiated to have the firm paid the dues.

At the centre of this deal was Biong Pieng Kuol Arop, a man said to be a South Sudanese Finance and Planning Ministry official, who midwifed the reconciliation and agreement.

Kenya’s Business Daily reported that Juba agreed to pay $10.9 million (Sh1.1 billion) and then finish it with three equal instalments of $12.8 million (Sh1.4 billion). But South Sudan disowned Mr Pieng in the affidavit before the Kenyan courts saying he attended the court hearing in Arusha, Tanzania, on his own volition and at no point did he act on behalf of the state.

The government protested that legal processes, both in Kenya and in Arusha, were a total violation of South Sudan’s sovereignty as a country.

‘‘Kenyan courts, including High Court of Kenya, have no power to oversee the affairs of South Sudan, including issuing orders against assets of the Republic of South Sudan,’’ the document read in part, adding: ‘‘It is entirely unfair and oppressive of the court to permit the accounts of a sovereign state to be frozen without hearing. The manner in which the orders were issued is evidence of a violation of the sovereignty of the people of the Republic of South Sudan.’’