Category: Buying & Selling

Women in Twic East County of Jonglei State have demanded economic empowerment as they celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD).

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj during the celebrations in Panyagoor town on Tuesday afternoon, Martha Yar, the head of the Twic East Women Association, called for the empowerment of women to help them cope with the economic hardships.

“Livelihoods in Twic East County have been destroyed by the floods and women are the ones bearing the brunt,” Yar said. “So, as women, we are appealing for the establishment of a women center where adult learning programs and pieces of training in things like tailoring and knitting can take place.”

Deng Gak Atem, the acting county commissioner, admitted that women have been affected by floods-induced hardships and that the government is committed to supporting them by respecting their constitutional rights.

“As a government, it is our mandate to ensure that women get their respect and dignity and that all the past beliefs which lower the value of women are eradicated. We will ensure that all positions allotted to women go to them,” he reassured.

For his part, Robert Maker, the county Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) coordinator, said they are working with aid agencies to include women empowerment in their work.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The prices of basic commodities in Greater Pibor Administrative Area’s (GPAA) capital, Pibor town, have sharply dropped as traders resorted to supplying the town through Eastern Equatoria State a month after the Juba-Pibor road shutdown over insecurity.

Zechariah Nyiboy, the head of the GPAA chamber of commerce, told Radio Tamazuj Wednesday that there was a drop in commodity prices after weeks of shortages in Pibor.

“Two weeks ago, we started receiving convoys of trucks loaded with goods through the Jebel Boma road because the Juba-Pibor and Juba-Bor roads are closed,” Nyiboy said. “Now, a 50 Kg sack of sugar and flour dropped to SSP 42,000 from 73,000 some weeks ago while 20 liters of oil decreased from SSP 40, 000 to 28,000.”

He however called on the government to reopen the Juba-Pibor road saying prices are still high for the local consumers because of the long hauling distance from Eastern Equatoria State.

A local government official, Nyany Korok, said the continued closure of the Juba-Pibor road has led to suffering.

“We received five truckloads of goods last week. Although there is a drop in prices, our life in Pibor is difficult because of the road closure. A road is government property so we do not understand why the national government is silent over this issue,” he said.

For his part, Lokali Amae, the GPAA chief administrator, said they are engaging the national police leadership to help provide escort for traders.

“I sent the local government minister and the Pibor mayor to Juba about the issue. They have an appointment with the Inspector General of Police so they will meet tomorrow to resolve the issue,” Amae said.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State governor Tong Akeen Ngor on Monday swore in 91 members of the revitalized state legislative assembly amid calls for teamwork, peace implementation, and service delivery.

William Anyuon Kuol, the information minister and government spokesman announced that the state government has sworn in parliamentarians as well as the reopening of the assembly.

“Today (Monday), the government of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State led by Hon. Tong Akeen Ngor has sworn in the members of the state legislative assembly together with the official opening of the assembly,” he announced.

A legislator from the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, Mayen Bol Akot, said they will work to strengthen unity and ensure the implementation of the 2018 peace agreement.

“I would like to assure you that the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) will work together with the parties to the peace agreement to allow the Revitalized Peace Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan to be real and be accomplished in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State,” says Bol.

Upieu Jongkoor, another MP said: “The only hope we have today is for peace implementation, and we thank God the agreement is going very smooth.”

He adds, “Of course, the formation of state assemblies will speed up the implementation of the peace agreement and we (MPs) are ready to collaborate with the executive authority to achieve ambitions for Northern Bahr el Ghazal people.”

The Executive Director of Aweil Community Based Organization Forum (ACBOF)’s, Santino Deng Ngong, welcomed the move and said the people of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State have been waiting for a fully functioning parliament so that matters affecting them can be addressed.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

South Sudan’s petroleum ministry and the oil sector’s joint operating companies on Tuesday signed a deal to harmonize and implement a unified human resource policy manual.

Oil sector workers have in the last couple of years been intermittently laying down tools in protest what they termed unfair variances in pay between local and foreign workers yet they do the same work.

The joint operating companies in South Sudan’s oil sector comprise DAR Petroleum Operating Company (DPOC), Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), and Sudd Petroleum Operating Company (SPOC).

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol said it had taken a while to come up with an agreeable consensus and thanked the partners for signing the policy manual.

“I would like to say that we are grateful and we also congratulate the partners that have initialed the implementation of the unified human resource policy manual today together with the ministry of petroleum represented by the director-general of the petroleum authority,” Minister Kang said.

“It has been a very long walk but finally we are sitting together as partners. We are calling upon our people, particularly those working in the oil sector that this is a new chapter and we all need to move forward as a family,” he added.

The petroleum minister revealed that the implementation of the unified human resource policy manual had divided the partners in the sector since December 2020.

“But today we have agreed that it must be implemented and I believe there is no loser here. Since we are all gaining, we must now work towards increasing production so that it benefits the people of South Sudan and the partners,” Kang said. “Do not look at your foreign colleagues as enemies but as your friends and you need to normalize your working relations and work together, particularly for those who work in the (oil) fields.”

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The Bank of Khartoum dismissed 40 employees in various branches of the bank yesterday. This brings the total number of employees who have been dismissed after expressing their opinion or participating in a workers’ protest to 62.

Dismissed employee Abdelrahman Mohamed Nour described the procedures for their dismissal as ‘arbitrary’. He explained that the employees’ protest was aimed at improving the work environment and reforming salaries and said that the bank’s management had not fulfilled its promises to implement the demands raised last year.

Since the October 25 military coup, the situation at the Bank of Khartoum has been uneasy.

Nour explained that the October 25 military coup and the dissolution of the steering committees led to a governance vacuum that the employees tried to fill by nominating representatives of the branches and establishing the bank’s employees’ initiative that presented proposals and demands to the management.

The management, however, dismissed 22 critical employees last year. This led to escalating steps from the employees’ initiative, including strike action to demand the return of the dismissed at the end of December. These demands were ignored.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The government of Central Equatoria State last week launched an electronic system for collecting taxes for all government institutions.

Governor Emmanuel Adel Anthony said during the launch that the implementation of the “e-government” system aims to enhance transparency and accountability, as well as the participation of citizens in monitoring government activities.

“It is important to note that the purpose of launching the e-government system is to increase efficiency, transparency and accountability and citizens to participate in monitoring and scrutinizing the functions of the government among other things,” Governor Adil said.

He added: “E-government uses ICT as a support tool in development to allow higher levels of effectiveness and efficiency in government functions and performance in terms of improvement of processes and procedures. It also increases the quality of public service and improves the use of information in decision-making processes to ease communication among different agencies.”

The governor explained that the system will use technology to achieve development by raising the level of services.

The UNMISS representative in the state, Elizabeth Heinsa, commended the state for launching the system and said it will help improve the economy by controlling the process of collecting revenue and providing services to citizens.

She said that the UN mission, as peace partners, expects that the activities of government institutions will be published through the website of the new electronic system in order to provide an opportunity to obtain information.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

South Sudan’s cabinet affairs minister, who is momentarily the acting chairman of the National Transitional Committee (NTC), yesterday said that the principal signatories to the revitalized peace agreement on Wednesday met and agreed to expeditiously graduate 50,000 unified forces.

Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro was briefing the press after the meeting in which the Joint Defense Board (JDB) briefed the Presidency in the presence of a visiting Sudanese delegation led by the Deputy President of the Sudan Supreme Council, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo.

“We attended the meeting to listen to the progress report of the JDB to verify the report they had presented earlier on the forces in the training centers across the Republic of South Sudan,” Dr. Lomuro explained. “This meeting was chaired by the President of South Sudan in the presence of the First Vice President and the Vice Presidents and Generals from JDB representing all the parties to the agreement.”

He added: “We were also graced by the presence of the Deputy President of the Sudan Supreme Council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, the defense minister of Sudan and the also the Sudanese chief of military intelligence who represented IGAD and also came as guarantors.”

The acting NTC chairman said the report revealed the total number of the troops screened who were ready for graduation was 50,000.

“The report identified the total number of forces that have been screened, reorganized, and are ready for graduation. It showed that we have 50,000 (soldiers) comprising of the army, police, National Security, military intelligence, prisons, fire brigade, and civil defense,” he said. “It classified the number of forces in Greater Equatoria, Upper Nile, and Greater Bahr el Ghazal and it told us the forces in Greater Equatoria and Upper Nile are ready for graduation.”

Dr. Lomuro revealed that the Sudanese delegation advanced suggestions on how the command at the top should be shared.

“What the meeting decided was to give 7 days for the parties to the agreement, particularly to the President and First Vice President and the head of SSOA, for us to conclude the representation of these opposition forces in the command of the army,” he said. “Sudan has come up with proposals as to how we should share the command up in the top because we now have the ranks identified. So, we are now going to sit over the proposal that has been advanced by Sudan and conclude in the next 7 days so that these forces are graduated.”

“I think this is a very big development and we are happy that the comments, particularly from the SPLM-IO leader Dr. Machar with regards to the report, were very positive. His only concern is for us to agree finally on exactly how to share the top command of the army and not necessarily the command structure because we already have ranks identified so it is a question of unifying them and arranging them according to seniority,” Lomuro added.

Asked when the forces will be graduated, he said, “We will first have our meeting then decide when they will graduate.”

On the elections, Dr. Lomuro said it will depend on the government’s total assessment of the peace implementation process, the critical provisions, and actions that must be taken and implemented to make sure that the elections are credible, free, and fair.

“So, when we conclude our final report… we will ask; we are left with one year if we are going for elections, what are the things that we must do before that date? And are we all agreeing with it? Dr. Lomuro said. “If we are not going for elections, what is the reason and how do you address and inform the people of South Sudan and convince them to give time for you to be able to do the things that you need to do.”

He added: “It is not a question of saying it (elections) is tomorrow. It is a question of reading what needs to be done. For example, do we need a permanent constitution before elections? If not, why not and what is the alternative? I would say that a constitution is a basis for drafting the law for election but it is not the law itself. So if I have a law that is credible and can allow me to conduct free and fair elections, can I go ahead and we agree?”

He said security is key while holding elections and everybody should be free to contest and move around without being harassed or intimidated.

“The most important thing for elections is the security of the candidates, the elections process and movement, including provision for the prevention of rigging. Second is the credibility of the (electoral) commission itself. These are the things we need to discuss,” Dr. Lomuro said.

On the country’s poor human rights records, he took a swipe at the west and attributed the reports to rumors peddled by NGOs.

“All these reports are based on NGOs’ rumors. Yasmin Sooka has been to Juba only recently. I am not sure whether she has gone to the villages, the towns, and anywhere else. And she has been criticized. All the 82 ambassadors of African countries stood with South Sudan…it is only the Troika and a few others,” Dr. Lomuro said.

He said the arms embargo has been an impediment but that the government is going to graduate the unified forces regardless.

“It is better for us to do it (graduate the forces) and let those who sanctioned or embargoed us feel the shame,” he concluded.

Source: Radio Tamazuj