Lawmakers to grill ministers over killings in Juba

The national parliament on Tuesday resolved to summon security ministers concerning the escalating rampant killings and crimes despite the deployments in and around Juba city.

This comes after the lawmakers expressed concerns about the wanton rise in sporadic killings in the national capital in recent days.

On Saturday, SSPDF Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang said a drive-by shooting at the Seventh Day Roundabout, killed a civilian and wounded another.

Lul said unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of people waiting for public buses before they sped off through Custom Road.

A few hours later, five people were wounded by a police officer who had dinner and refused to pay his bills at a restaurant in Juba’s Hai Cinema Area just.

During the same day, a 25-year-old boda-boda rider and student at Don Bosco Vocational School was shot and killed at the Gumbo Sherikat residential area east of Juba.

Social media had it that at least nine people were killed in different incidents over the weekend.

Speaking in the parliament on Tuesday, lawmaker Joseph Bol said the despite the happenings, the authorities have remained silent over the concerns.

“There is too much silence from the executive and from the (National Security and Public Order) committee to brief the house on what is happening in this country.

“It is true there is economic crisis but there’s nothing that the executive of this country is doing about them, and the defending silence has shown that the executive is failing to do the right thing, ” he said.

He suggested that the Interior, Defense and National Security Ministers to called before the legislature to tell the public about what’s going in city, and whether this had to do with the economic hardship

Responding to the concerns, the Chairperson of the National Security and Public Order Committees said the matter should not be linked to the economic situation.

“I think the issue of rampant insecurity in town should not be connected to the economic crisis in the country. Even if you are hungry, we cannot fail to protect our people, we cannot allow our people to be killed,” said.

However, Kom Kom Geng agreed that the ministers concerned be summoned to explain why there is rampant killing in the city.

“We need to summon the minister concern on the security to come and tell us why can we allow our people to be killed people because we are hungry. No, we have to protect them.”

The First Speaker of the national parliament Oyet Nathaniel has directed the legal advisor to summon the relevant ministers as soon as possible.

“The increasing cases of crimes around the town and the country are all about the difficult situation that our citizens are going through. I have directed the legal advisor to take the resolution and summon the relevant ministers.

“I followed the media the other day where the budget has reached the Council of Ministers. I think they have adopted it. It might be coming with some package to salvage this situation.

“But we as parliament already have a motion on the floor and we want to see solutions to the dire economic crisis that the country is going through.

“So, we need this week. Once you trace the resolution, will again authorize the summon accordingly so that these ministers can come as soon as possible. There is no justification why they should not come,” he said.

After ten month of non-payment of civil servants, Juba and other parts of the country especially in Central Equatoria State have witness unprecedented insecurity characterized by armed robberies and other crimes.