SPLM-DC: Press Statement on the NSS Bill

POLITICAL PARTIES OF SOUTH SUDAN

Date: 15 October 2014

PRESS STATEMENT ON

THE NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICE ACT

The National Legislative Assembly passed on Wednesday, the 8^th instant, the controversial National Security Service Bill. The Bill had been referred to the relevant committees for scrutiny after many members expressed concerns regarding certain provisions that give the security agents immunity as well as wide ranging powers of detention and arrest without warrant. The Bill also defines and imposes penalties not in conformity with the Penal Code. That day, the law was rushed into parliament and passed through procedures that contravene Article 28 of the Conduct of Business Regulations of the National Legislative Assembly. Informed sources in the Assembly add that the sitting in which the bill was passed was inquorate.

All laws in all countries of the world derive their legitimacy from the national constitution which is the supreme law of the land. The relevant provision here is Article 159 of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan 2011, which stipulates:

The National Security Service shall:

(a) be subject to the authority of the Constitution and the law;

(b) be subordinate to the civilian authority;

(c) respect the will of the people, the rule of law, democracy, human

rightsand fundamental freedoms;

(d) reflect the diversity of the people of South Sudan in its

recruitment; and

(e) be professional and its mandate shall focus on information

gathering, analysis and advice to the relevant authorities.

Indeed, the Bill has acknowledged that its legitimacy derives from this constitutional provision by incorporating it verbatim as Section 6 of the Bill.

In clear contravention of this mandate, the Bill provided for excessive powers for the service.  A few examples will suffice to illustrate the point we are making.Members of the service are granted immunity from initiation of criminal proceedings against them under section 52 of the Bill. Section 12 gives the service sweeping powers of search (d); seizing property (e); arrest and detention (f); and monitoring publications, broadcasting stations,etc. (o). Article 29 gives the service power to “gather, retain and disseminate information related to any person…” without seeking approval from any oversight body infringing on the privacy of individuals. Section 50 (2) states that a member of the service shall in the exercise of the powers under Section 12 “exercise all powers of the police”. In other words, the security service is usurping powers of the police.

Chapter VIII of the Bill which deals with offences, contraventions and punishments is unnecessary as it gives new definitions of crimes and punishments thereof not in conformity with the Penal Code.

Nothing in the Bill deals with ensuring that its recruitment reflects the diversity of the people of South Sudan. In fact, Section 30 on the eligibility for recruitment does not even specify what academic requirements are required opening the door wide for abuse.

We appeal to the President of the Republic not to assent to the Act and return it to the National Legislative Assemble for reconsideration for the following reasons:

1. Some provisions of the Act contravene the Constitution, especially, the Bill of Rights;
2. Such a sensitive Act requires a reasonable degree of consensus among our people. This is the more so under the current crisis facing the country. None of that was achieved as the official opposition walked out of parliament. Other members from the ruling party from Equatoria region also walked out and a good number absented themselves in protest;
3. The quorum of the sitting in which the Bill was passed is questionable and hence its legality is in doubt;
4. The Bill must conform to the mandate of the National Security Service stipulated in Article 159 of the Constitution.

The political parties shall coordinate with other sections of our society to ensure that we finally get a security bill that serves the supreme interests of our people.

JUBA-NIMULE HIGHWAY: A killer of its Own Kind

A road accident victim explaining the ordeals of which he was involved

By KON Joseph LEEK

Baakulu bus that crashed head-on on the Jub-Nimule Highway, near Nesitu

“I was looking through the window enjoying the green-mountains’ view, then I felt the unnecessary turn, I knew something was wrong. With a break neck speed in the rocky steep and serpentine road with lots of turns, our bus has just overtaken a truck and in a second the driver opened his door wide opened, jumped out and sped in to the bush down the gorge leaving  we, the passengers alternating shriek as the next turn approached. The bus overturned, I couldn’t hear anything anymore”.

“The world was now spinning, turned into a small place, quiet and agonizing,” The giant “Baby Coach Bus” has fallen on the right side. I knew straight away that the driver was at fault”.

Lual’thii Deng Lual’cham narrating the ordeals of the bus accident of August 30^th, 2014 that killed seven instantly and injuring 19 others

Lual had earlier (about a week) been taken to Juba with all his siblings to attend the burial and funeral of his father 1^st. Lt. Deng Lual’cham who was killed in a car accident along the same road on 21^st, August

 Upon being returned back to Kampala, the bus (baby coach) overturned cutting off his (Lual’s) right hand (a P.7’s candidate- righty is now left with unfamiliar-to-writing-left-hand to do the exams), his uncle’s wife had all the hands cut off and other two sisters of his had one hand cut off from each of them (leaving four people with only three hands).

Yes, there is nothing to smile about, above explained ordeal is not the only accident that happened along that highway but I had to take my time and interview some of the victims after having been discharged from the hospitals and now nursing the wounds.

I wrote nothing about the above accident but forced to write this by the latest accident of 29^th September, 2014. It’s heartbreaking to hear more of horrible news. On 29^th September, Bakulu bus Reg. No; VAS 073P collided head on with the trailer Reg. No;UAD 304e/UAB 330y (front and near respectively) [all belonging to Uganda citing the registration numbers] around 8:00am just on Nisitu bridge.

Only 17 passengers survived in that bus with life-threatening wounds according to new vision of 30^th September.

13 Ugandans (in critical condition) were being attended to in the UPDF field hospital at Nisitu according to the press release of 1^st Oct by the Uganda’s ministry of foreign affairs.

That was a calamity to the South Sudanese and their friends, Ugandans

In the above incident, I saw the security personnel disorderly throwing the dead bodies in a black pick-up like logs or sacks of charcoals, even sacks of charcoals are arranged in order to avoid them from breaking. Those security personnel need to be informed about the respect of dead bodies. Taking care of their bodies is the last respect we can do for them.

On 12^th Dec, 2013 Lol bus sped at the break-neck speed, the driver failed to control the bus and lastly nocked the tree along the same road killing six and injuring 12 others

Bakulu coach Reg. No; UAQ 409E overturned trying to avoid ramming into a Toyota Ipsum car with Reg. No; EE 516B which was being driven on a wrong lane by another South Sudanese reckless driver just at pageri-Apari junction on 21^st December, 2014

On Dec 29^th, 2012, Baby and Bakulu coaches collided along the same road near Pageri Revenue Authority killing close to 50 people.

The accident is blamed on the argument that had surfaced between the two drivers in Kampala where the Bakulu bus driver had howl insults on the baby coach driver to be a HIV residue and only awaiting to expire (die). With bitterness, the baby coach driver wanted not to die alone but to die with his tormentor, the Bakulu driver. So the fault of collision was generally blamed on the baby coach driver who committed suicide on the other hence taking the lives of almost 50 other innocent people from Uganda and South Sudan who knew nothing about their argument and no step was taken by the two Countries’ authorities (Uganda & South Sudan) to investigate the incident.

In casethe argument was right and the baby coach driver was indeed a HIV patient then the baby coach passenger company would have been held responsible for the death of all those people for having hired a patient as a driver in their company.

The above accidents plus others I do not know of have happened, people died and no steps were taken.

And most of the accidents are blamed on driver’s reckless driving of which they accelerates as if they just come out of the bar and given a bus to drive citing examples of what you might have read above

Really speaking, If I were the minister of roads, I would deliberately resigned and gave the post back to President Kiir to decides whom to decreed into that post again, because I am doing the unknown to save the lives on that road but since people are not the same where others love to still stand in the face of threat and danger then the minister Is right anyway to motionlessly maintain his place.

What is killing the people on that road is only lack of supervision of one’s role. This is dangerous with us. We take things for granted. If you have done your work, revise what you have done because there are others out there whodestroy what you have done for them, others not respecting it.

There is no way the road is constructed for people and you think your work is over. You still have the burden of enacting laws to guide its use; others abuse what you rightly did for them and for this, you do not need to go and sleep with the mentality that you have constructed what they had wanted.

Yes they might have wanted/needed it but it could be misused unless you guide it. It is not a matter of “road is constructed” and that is it [if you do that, and people dies, the blame still goes back to you].

My people also think that (government too), if the road is nicely constructed, it automatically stops killing people not aware that if your daughter is beautiful and undergoing adolescence period, there are many risks involved. She cangratuitously be defiled or impregnated due to the influence of adolescence when you are busy snoring on your bed thinking that your thing (little daughter) is beautiful and willbe splendidlymarried or awaiting splendid marriage.

That is exactly the same thing our drivers are doing, speeding up due to show-up hence killing us while the government is happily sleeping thinking that its children have been done something nice that they might make use of. Control is important please!

If I was the government, I would use this simple policy along that road as a way to safe guard people’s life along juba-Nimule highway;

The Juba buses that leave for Kampala every morning should be escorted by the traffic police car with its siren from Juba up to Nimule, no bus shall leave alone. They should be waiting and leaves together with the traffic police ahead of them while following it, the speed shall be 70 and below moderated by the traffic police car in another word, they would track at the speed of traffic police.

Upon reaching Nimule, the same traffic police car should be the one leading the Kampala buses from Nimule to Juba at the same speed up to Juba. The siren will help the car/truck ahead to know that something is coming ahead or behind [I could set up the department in-charge of that].

This shall be temporary until the government produces the Traffic Control Devices Manual [First thing first]. Constructions of the roundabouts and street lights is supposed to be after when we are sure that our police for traffic is trained and ready to enact the laws, imagine some of the light-polls along Custom’s road and other streets have been knocked down majorly by the military vehicles in the eyes of the traffic police and no replacement yet, so why do we waste time in doing what is not maintained?

Our traffic police brothers are easily got in any corner of the road seated in groups chatting [majorly women], only stopping alien’s cars and  threatening them in close-to-Al-Qaida-Arabic that our brothers from East Afrika [akin to English] do not pick. This is how far unprofessional they have become, looking in their eyes, at how they look at the cars, they seemed to only observe the car that just got involved in the accident and stopping the cars that H.E is soon passing in order to clear the road for him, if there is another you can add…..

I do see the” stopping of buses” from moving along the same road [Kampala to Juba] as not important at all unless we do not mind about the revenue they are providing to the government.

We do not want to die anymore; we know well that many things are killing us here including the infinite 15^th December war, poverty, pestilence and City criminals among others

We only write to help inform the government on things it might be forgetting or skipping, we do not write as enemies as others misconstrues the reality..!!

The writer is an independent journalist and a commentator on contemporary South Sudan living In Juba and was in Kampala when he wrote this article. He can be reached on j.konleek@gmail.com +211955091449/+256750000146

How You Can Miss Job Opportunity Because of Your Facebook Profile’s Update

By Mapuor Malual Manguen

Facebook is the most used social networking website in the world. One interesting thing about it is that many of its users know its drawbacks but cannot stop using it. This is because it is the most addictive social media. Once you get connected with your facebook friends you will realize how frequently you open Facebook and also spend so much time in commenting, viewing other’s pictures, playing games or doing other stuff.

Apart from causing troubled relationships and intrusion to someone’s privacy, facebook can ruin people’s professional life. This can happen through what information or pictures you post to your profile page. The kind of pictures and information you share with friends can describe individual character. I believe many South Sudanese facebook users are not aware of this shortcoming. I made this conclusion as a result of what I have always seen and read from my friend’s profile updates.

 Besides, the job seekers of this country should note that one can lose chances for employment because of individual social networking website’s profile page. Often employers search for applicants’ social networking website’s profile page to know more about you.  Maybe you have put some nude pictures in your profile or maybe you have entered wrong information (perhaps just for fun) in your profile; your employer will be shocked to see all that and you will not be given the job offer.

Worst of all, facebook is producing so many quack journalists in South Sudan than any other social networking. Throughout their session, facebook users post any information that come to their minds or came across without first weighing impacts this information may cause. I have seen many of my facebook friends posting death announcement in their pages. They don’t care how this information might affect the aggrieved relatives; friends and family members of the dead. The worst situation of this frenzy is when someone rushes to fackebook and post that so and so is killed when in fact the very person is alive and kicking.

One such example happened last week when some facebookers posted in their pages the purported killing of Lakes State citizens in Gogrial in Warrap state. This was a fabrication but it caused unnecessary tension which prompted authorities of both Lakes and Warrap states to quickly come out and denied such information as “dangerous lie.” This is how social media would plant seeds of disunity in the public.

It should be note that facebook is a useful tool for networking, entertainment and communication. But if misuse, it can cause serious damage to individual integrity.

This article was published on The Juba Telegraph on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. The author is journalist, blogger and political commentator based in juba. He can be reached at mapuormanguen85@gmail.com

The Conflict in Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal: Sudan updates from the Small Arms Survey

Follow the links below for the latest available information and analysis from the Small Arms Survey on Dissident Militias in South Sudan. The Conflict in Northern and Western Bahr el Ghazal (16 October 2014)– NEW Provides an analysis of conflict dynamics in Bahr el Ghazal as of October 2014, including Aturjong’s rent-seeking revolt and emerging political discontent with the NBeG government following Kuel Aguer Kuel’s appointment as caretaker governor. Discusses large-scale desertions of Nuer SPLA soldiers of the 3rd and 5th divisions over nonpayment of wages and fear of ethnic retribution. These dynamics do not pose a threat to state forces as much as indicate a general political and economic crisis in governance. http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/facts-figures/south-sudan/conflict-of-2013-14/the-conflict-in-bahr-el-ghazal.html Conflict map – Bahr el Ghazal (16 October 2014) Showing major clashes and areas of control as of October 2014, as well as routes followed by SPLA deserters towards East Darfur in April and June 2014. http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/fileadmin/docs/facts-figures/tables-maps/HSBA-Conflict-Map-BeG-Oct-2014.pdf For questions, comments on content, or feedback, contact: Yodit Lemma HSBA Project Coordinator Small Arms Survey yodit.lemma@smallarmssurvey.org Follow the HSBA on Twitter (@Sudan HSBA) and Facebook (Sudan HSBA – Small Arms Survey)

The Juba University Lecture Series Sponsored by the Rift valley Institute

RVI – Juba University Lectures 2014 – Announcement – 13 October 2014 (1)