Trade between Uganda- Congo suffers due to high taxes and insecurity

Kisoro- Mupaka Town Council

Residents and leaders of Mupaka Town Council in Kisoro district are calling upon authorities to put in place measures to address challenges faced by Ugandans living near to the Uganda-DRC border.

The worried citizens said Government should be able to find mechanisms to work with the Government of Congo to ensure cross border trade moves on smoothly, despite having the presence of M23 rebel group operating in the area.

The residents narrated that since the M23 rebels captured areas of Rutshuru territory in North Kivu of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), there has been increased taxes that renders Ugandan traders helpless because it is impossible to make any profits from the cross-border trade.

The local authorities in DRC demand high taxes, despite their businesses meeting various hurdles especially poor supply of commodities, market fluctuations and capital deficiency.

The traders however have to pay taxes both on the DRC and Ugandan authorities, unlike before where they benefitted from the Great Lakes Region Trade Facilitation Project (GLTFP) on the Bunagana border post.

The Vice LC1 Chairperson Gakenkye village in Mupaka Town Council, Ponsiano Karengye said residents have also reported that their domestic animals are either stolen or harmed when they go astray beyond Ugandan borders.

He says that Ugandan traders who buy goods in DRC also do their business with fear over their personal safety and goods, since the area is not under an established civil authority.

Karengye says that recently, there was a group of Congolese youths that had made it a habit to invade Ugandan homes to rob household items and domestic animals.

However, the residents are happy that they can still carry out their farming activities in DRC and return with their farm produce without difficulty.

Dushime Restatuta, a resident of Mupaka Town Council blames the poor security situation and lack of an established government on the DRC side for poor trade volumes.

She says their businesses have since become stunted and some traders are looking for other means of survival.

The Mayor Mupaka Town Council, Emmanuel Ndekezi said they have been engaging the current leaders of the areas in DRC to address such challenges.

Ndekezi said he regrets that cross border trade has since fallen the M23 conflict broke out.

He recalls that over 10 trucks would cross the Busanza border every week. These vehicles delivered farm produce commodities, as they transported manufactured products like cement, plastics, iron bars, salt, soap and others back to DRC. However, such was halted when the borders were closed.