What Commissioner Kalisto can learn from Governor Kuel Aguer

Left: Care-taker Commissioner of Juba County, Mr. Kalisto Ladu.
Right: Former Governor of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Mr. Kuel Aguer Kuel.

On October 6, 2026, the Caretaker Commissioner of Juba Country, Mr. Kalisto Ladu, threatened to ban foreigners from South Sudan's informal economy and retail businesses. 

Speaking in Juba Arabi, he said foreigners should not leave their countries and come to South Sudan only to sell chapati, onions and tomatoes by kilos in the streets. "What will our South Sudanese women do?" he asked.

He warned that no foreigners should engage at the lowest levels of the South Sudan's informal economy. 

In my conversation in January 2026 with former Governor of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Mr. Kuel Aguer Kuel, we spoke about the kind of the informal economy Mr. Kalisto was referring to. 

Governor Kuel said: 

"When I was  governor, I went and I found these ladies making tea, selling vegetables, selling greens, and they were being taxed.

And I made a decision that they should not be taxed because these are people who want to survive. You bring firewood to the market to sell so that you buy sugar for your children and you are taxed from this. I say, “ no, no”. There is a certain income that is taxed. So these ladies should not be taxed. Let them develop, even the tea ladies.

They develop from tea to have restaurants. And when they have restaurants, wm ask them…to have license and we will be able to take taxes from then.

But if we start taxing them from tea, they will remain in the tea and they will not be able to come into conventional economy. So this informal economy is a school where people are trained to join the conventional economy. Because otherwise...you will destroy them and they will go out of business." 

Kuel added:

"They need even to be supported if they have plans. By then I wanted to talk to Dr. Alic Garang  [former governor of South Sudan's Central of South Sudan] to come and sit with them to ask them what would they do if they get more money so that we can put money in a commercial bank and then we ask them to get loan from it. We guaranteed their loans from government money so that they can take loan and do their business whatever they want to do and they will be returning.

If they default, then the government will be able to pay that because there is a risk of course. Because some of these women, they don't have land. So there will be no collateral. So the collateral will be the government. You give them up to about $500, $600, whatever they want to do with that amount of money. And government will grant you.

If they don't pay it back, the government will be able to do it. And they should be put in the books of a minister of commerce in the state. And then they are followed up. How are they growing? What are the difficulties they are facing? And then you help them. You will have local people to help them in planning, to help them in how they deal with issues until they become business people and they grow up. So this is the way you deal with informal because when somebody try to get into business, it has got entrepreneurial scheme and they need to be supported so that he become a big entrepreneur in the future. Yeah."

Commissioner Kalisto's call, however, infuriated South Sudanese who disapproved of what he said. They thought it was not carefully thought out. 

One commentator even accused him of being an attention-seeker.

Kalisto's call also caused uneasiness across the border as the foreigners he was referring to are from the neighboring countries. 

Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, Uganda's Minister of East African Affairs, asked for fairness in laws and policies restricting Uganda traders and businesses in South Sudan. She noted that South Sudan has a bilateral agreement with Uganda.  

While Mr. Kalisto's call cannot be dismissed entirely, many still believed he could have been more careful. A blanket call to bank foreigners from engaging in small business activities may fuel the xenophobic sentiments we have seen over the last few years in South Africa. 

The approach Governor Kuel took is something Commissioner Kalisto should adopt. This can make South Sudanese small businesses competitive. 

Fortunately, Mr. Kalisto has since clarified his statement. He said that "There is nothing about sending foreigners out of South Sudan. There is nothing about prohibiting foreigners from business. There is nothing about hating foreigners."

This is important in assuaging xenophobic fears.

However, the commissioner added that "If we can just leave our people like that, without also protecting them in business, then we will be committing negligence."

This is also useful. It is the kind of protection Governor Kuel provided to the informal sector. 

Since small businesses are the engine of the country, it is important that the citizens are the ones who dominant the small business environment. The economy suffers if the engine of the economy are foreigners who can leave the country anytime for one reason or another. 

Unfortunately, the business climate in South Sudan is dominated by foreigners. So Commissioner Kalisto's statement while crass, was based on lived reality of the citizens. 

However, it is also not the fault of foreigners. They saw a lucrative business opportunity and climate in South Sudan, however small. They utilized it. 

They also had the entrepreneurial and business skills many South Sudanese did not have because many of them lived outside the country in refugee camps for decades.

What South Sudan and Juba County needs is a legal, clear and streamlined strategy to help South Sudan improve their entrepreneurial and business management skills. 

Governor Kuel provides one best practice. 

This would allow them to complete with Kenyans, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Ugandans, Somalis and other African business people and traders in South Sudan. 

Over-time, South Sudanese may fairly dominate the business environment in their own country. 

For now, Commissioner Kalisto needs to exercise care in his public statements. He is someone who is fond of making controversial statements. Some of his statements are justified while others were not. 

For now, he needs to be more circumspect and provide economically found strategies to support onions, tea and tomato leaders. This would make them, as Governor Kuel has said "trained to join the conventional economy."

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By the Editor

The pathology of power: South Sudan’s political theatre and the bankruptcy of institutional statesmanship

 

 

"The true measure of statesmanship is not how ferociously one attacks an opponent, but how responsibly one exercises influence when the nation is already fractured.. South Sudan is not a playground for rhetorical pyromania. It is a republic struggling with institutional fragility, historical trauma, political distrust, and immense public expectations."

 

By Cde Bil Riar*

South Sudan has reached a point where political discourse is no longer merely contentious; it is becoming institutionally corrosive, historically amnesiac, and rhetorically incendiary.

The increasingly confrontational posture attributed to Presidential Press Secretary Arek Aldo Ajou Deng Akuei, particularly toward Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, warrants more than partisan applause or condemnation. It demands a serious interrogation of constitutional propriety, political temperament, historical responsibility, and the ethical boundaries of presidential communication.

A spokesperson of the presidency is expected to be an institutional interlocutor, not a political belligerent; a custodian of governmental credibility, not an amplifier of factional antagonism.

And the same scrutiny must extend to Akol Santo Ariech and every other political actor participating in this increasingly combustible discourse.

The liberation history of South Sudan cannot be subjected to retrospective revisionism, genealogical opportunism, or political expropriation. The sacrifices of those who endured the liberation struggle should not be trivialized by individuals whose contemporary proximity to political power is subsequently presented as equivalent to historical participation.

Revolutionary legitimacy is not hereditary property, nor is governmental appointment a certificate of historical heroism.

The circulating WhatsApp screenshot involving allegations of financial demands and proposed political replacement should, however, be treated with epistemological caution: its authenticity, provenance, context, and completeness require independent verification before anyone converts it into political evidence. If authenticated, however, allegations of that magnitude would warrant serious institutional scrutiny rather than casual dismissal or social-media sensationalism.

The electoral question is equally incapable of being resolved through ceremonial declarations and political incantations.

Elections require fiscal capacity, administrative architecture, logistical preparedness, security guarantees, voter-registration infrastructure, legal certainty, and institutional credibility. Without these prerequisites, proclaiming electoral inevitability risks producing nothing more than democratic simulacrum—the appearance of democracy without the substantive conditions necessary for its credibility.

South Sudan does not need another juridico-political mirage.

It needs functioning institutions.

It needs accountable governance.

It needs political sobriety.

It needs leaders capable of understanding that power without institutional restraint degenerates into arbitrariness, while rhetoric without responsibility degenerates into political combustion.

Dr. John Garang's historical legacy should likewise not be transformed into ammunition for contemporary political vendettas. His place in the country's historical consciousness demands intellectual seriousness, not political iconoclasm masquerading as criticism.

And let nobody confuse vocabulary with wisdom.

A politician can possess an enormous lexicon and still demonstrate profound political myopia.

The true measure of statesmanship is not how ferociously one attacks an opponent, but how responsibly one exercises influence when the nation is already fractured.

South Sudan is not a playground for rhetorical pyromania.

It is a republic struggling with institutional fragility, historical trauma, political distrust, and immense public expectations.

Therefore:

Enough of the vituperation.

Enough of the historical opportunism.

Enough of the institutional impunity.

Enough of confusing proximity to power with political sagacity.

The Presidency requires statesmen, not incendiaries; interlocutors, not antagonists; constitutionalists, not political absolutists.

The political class may control today's microphones.

But history controls tomorrow's verdict

_______________________

*Comrade Bithriar Garang is  political commentator and advocate for accountable leadership, democratic participation and a stronger future for South Sudan. You can reach him at  bithriargarang@593gmail.com

Editorial Note: The views expressed in this articles belong solely to the author.