Juba County caretaker Commissioner Kalisto Lado has denied ordering Kenyans and other foreign nationals operating businesses in South Sudan to leave the county within seven days, saying his remarks were misquoted.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

In a statement on Tuesday, October 6, Lado dismissed media reports claiming that he had given foreigners seven days to leave South Sudan.

According to the Commissioner, he does not have the mandate to deport or evacuate foreigners, saying such action falls under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“There is actually news circulating on social media that the Commissioner has given the foreigners seven days to leave Juba or South Sudan. The Commissioner has never said that, and it is not the mandate of the Commissioner to actually evacuate people or to send people out of South Sudan,” Lado stated.

📌 What You Need to Know

However, the Commissioner maintained that foreigners, including Kenyans and other East Africans, are welcome in South Sudan, provided they do not engage in small retail businesses.

He argued that such businesses should be reserved for South Sudanese , and that foreigners should instead focus on larger-scale trade and investment.

"My statement was that foreigners should not be trading in retail business. Let them do the whole set. So this is not sending people away. This is another way of respecting our own people, of protecting our own businesses," he added.

The clarification comes after the caretaker Commissioner was captured in a viral video demanding that foreign nationals operating small-scale businesses leave the country.

Lado questioned why foreign nationals should go to South Sudan to run small businesses when the same opportunities could be taken up by citizens.

"The retail business is only for South Sudanese. If you are a foreigner and want to invest, you do wholesale so that our people can buy from you, or you can employ South Sudanese," he said.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke