Chagor relieves chaotic protests with two days’ pledge

The government of Jonglei State has asked the civil servants for two more days to meet their demands after staging a massive demonstration that turned chaotic yesterday.

The Jonglei State Police Commissioner, who is also a member of the committee to resolve the issue, Joseph Mayen Akoon, confirmed yesterday that the situation was contained. This was after the deputy state governor, Antipas Nyok Kucha, had consulted with the governor, Denay Jock Chagor, and held a meeting with civil servants and agreed that they would wait for feedback from the government.

“The situation is now calm because the meeting was conducted with the civil servants by the deputy governor, Antipas Nyok Kucha. I was in the meeting and the civil servants agreed that they would call off the strike,” he explained.

The police commissioner said that the information that had been circulating about the evacuation of the governor during demonstrations and that he had been injured was false and that the public should be informed to disregard it.

“The demonstrations happened when the governor was in his house. It was the deputy governor who was there, and the news that the governor was injured is false. We cannot allow our governor to be injured. Disregard that information, it is false,” Mayen stated clearly.

The chairman of Jonglei State Civil Society Network, Bol Deng Bol, said they had warned the government to act earlier but their appeal was disregarded while it would have saved the state from the tension which took place.

“We released a statement yesterday appealing for the state government to take action in respect to the rights of civil servants but our statement was not taken into consideration while it would have saved the state from what happened today (Wednesday),” Bol stated.

He called for the government to stop practices that overlook the rights of citizens, like denying them the salaries and allowances that they solely deserve.

“The government must refrain from such practises that promote injustice, especially by denying civil servants their salaries, which they had worked for,” he stated.

He urged the state government to stick to their promise to make sure that they meet the needs of civil servants within the duration that they had given.

Call to action

On Tuesday, the Jonglei Civil Society Network (JSCN) called on the government of Jonglei State to accept to pay allowances of the civil servants.

The statement presented to City Review warned that failure to respond swiftly could stir up tension and paralyse state government operations.

The statement argued that it was the right of civil servants to be paid their salaries and allowances in full adding that it was unlawful to withdraw allowances without their permission.

“While the civil servants’ allowances are their rights and should not be taken away without their consent whatsoever, we believe that the government is capable of resolving the disagreement within the available state mechanisms. It is, therefore, imperative that the state government take necessary actions immediately to avoid demonstrations and end the ongoing strike,” the statement read.

It continued that giving civil servants their demands would enable the smooth running of the education sector, security sector, health sector, and economic sector.

 “Jonglei Civil Society Network (JCSN) is alarmed and appeals to the government of Jonglei State and her workforces to settle this stalemate amicably in order to avoid unnecessary strikes and demonstrations as this is likely to adversely affect the health sector, education sector, security sector and the dwindling economy,” the Civil Society boss reiterated.

“Our education sector is currently preparing and conducting examinations for primary and secondary schools. This should not be interrupted whatsoever. Likewise, our security remains worryingly threatened, given the surging deadly inter-communal conflicts. With this stand-off, we are afraid that our security could be further be jeopardised.”

The state government had passed a resolution and announced to the public that allowances of civil servants would be redirected towards state security to stabilize the state. The civil servants rejected this and decided to carry out massive demonstrations.