Gov’t suppliers to stage demo over $ 160m arrears
A group of business suppliers who were contracted to supply goods to the cantonment sites and training centres in Juba have threatened to go on strike next week.
The group said they will stage a march to the office of the Chairperson of the National Transitional Committee (NTC) and Presidential Advisor for Security Affairs, Tut Gatluak, if they do not get the funds by tomorrow, Tuesday, July 19.
The suppliers claim that they have not been paid for the last three years.
“He [Gatluak] pledged to partially pay the suppliers within three weeks effective from the date of the meeting [April 6, 2022].
“When the three weeks elapsed, the Chairman decided to deploy armed security men at the gate of his office,” Dak Panyang Chairperson of the suppliers said in a statement.
“The suppliers have therefore decided, together with their families and employees, to camp at the office of the Chairman until their grievances are attended to.
“We have vowed never to be intimidated by any force, whatsoever, in the quest to have our arrears paid,” reads the document.
In May 2022, one of the suppliers identified only as James lost his life because he could not afford to pay his medical bills. His colleague claims that ‘James’ was owed thousands by NTC by the time of his death.
In 2019, it allegedly hired a group of companies and businessmen.
The suppliers claim that they are owed close to 160 million US Dollars by NTC, the body in charge of overseeing the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
The group of about 50 traders claimed they have been supplying the forces with food in Juba, Torit, Ashwa, and Kendila in Yei since 2019.
Gatluak, though admitted that they owe the suppliers money, he, however, claims that the figures being quoted are inflated.
