Jonglei still battling strikes month on

The persistent industrial action in Jonglei State has been normalised as civil servants continue to demand their rights.

On Wednesday hundreds of civil servants took to the street of Bor town to demand their allowances.

However, on and off strike beats a common man to understand the source of impasse bedevilling Jonglei State when the same State government last month signed an agreement with the civil servants to deliver on their demand.

It remains unclear whether the issues of the allowances are the major concern of the civil servants because each time the state government passes an order the civil servants flock to the street of Bor.

Jonglei State has been struggling with civil unrest from the civil servants since last October. The first time the state government attempted to address their needs was when the civil servants stormed government premises and blocked major roads to the airstrip.

Chain of unrests

Several critics have been calling for the removal of governor Denay Jock Chagor. But these calls have been opposed by some people who want Chagor to continue as they argued that it is not right to unseat an energetic young governor.

However, strike against Chagor’s leadership started much earlier than the issue of the 100 per cent rise. The protest started when he issued a gubernatorial decree for the appointment of the director generals. Chagor was then accused of violating the constitution due to the imbalanced division of positions among the counties in the state.

Incidences

Governor Chagor was despised with some saying he appointed his tribe’s men into the state offices of director-generals, with the exception of the three positions which went to Pigi County and two others to Greater Bor (Bor, Duk and Twic East counties).

His critics said the ratio was supposed to be five for Greater Bor, the same number for Greater Fangak and Greater Akobo and two for Pigi County.

“In this list, Greater Bor is having two DGs (Director Generals) one from Pigi County. Meanwhile, 14 DGs are from Greater Fangak and Greater Akobo,” read a statement from one of the critics in the state capital Bor. 

The state civil servants through their supreme body, Workers’ trade union organised a strike calling for the governor to revoke his decree but was no lullaby song.

The decree remained unchanged although it was said the state council of ministers that was supposed to have input into the appointment was not consulted to recommend whom they wanted to be appointed in their ministries.

Subsequently, in November, the doctors went on strike after Medicos Del Mundo (MDM)’s contract ended, leaving the salaries of doctors unpaid for two months.

It was then that the issue of allowances came in where the state government was not willing to pay the 100 per cent salaries of civil servants, the nature of work allowances and infection allowances for medical workers.

However, when the strike intensified, the state ministry of health decided to give the civil servants their rights. This remains a question of whether rights should only be granted after a strike or guaranteed without any violence fomented.

Incumbent strike

In December, the civil servants demanded their July, August and September full salaries, through the 100 per cent salary increment scale announced by President Salva Kiir Mayardit at the tenth anniversary of South Sudan independence and circulated by the national ministry of public service.

The state government had developed a policy that stated that there would be deductions made from the allowances which the civil servants rejected. After storming and shutting government premises severally, and their needs were not addressed, the president summoned the state governor Chagor and the national minister for public service, Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro, ordering them to form a committee to investigate the cause of demonstrations and why salaries were not paid.

When the committee arrived in Bor, on the same day when the civil servants blocked the road to the airstrip, the agreement was reached so that full salaries could be paid and that nature of work allowances would be paid using state-local revenue.

The civil servants received their salaries happily till January 2022. Then, the government developed another policy and directed the allowances of civil servants to state security coffers without consulting them.

This prompted the state workers trade union to serve authorities with a notice on Monday about the scheduled Wednesday’s demonstration.

The Jonglei State Civil Society Network had earlier warned of dire consequences of the demonstrations if the state government fails to take immediate action to meet the demands of the civil servants.

However, the advice was not taken seriously until Wednesday when angry civil servants stormed the governor’s office that led to the injury of some protestors.

Also, the house of the Secretary-General of the Workers Trade Union was allegedly stormed by suspected security agents leading to the disappearance of his twelve years old sons.

One of the protesters was arrested and the incident triggered massive demonstrations which led to three other injuries as security officers dispersed the protestors.

In spite of all this drama, the deputy governor Antipas Nyok Kucha had been coordinating with the governor until an agreement to call off the demonstrations was reached with civil servants with a promise to meet their demands within two days of working hours.

The Jonglei State Police Commissioner, Joseph Mayen Akoon, said the situation returned to normal and that the state government was working hard to meet the two-day deadline.