The Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Observatory, (JARHO), Advocate Godfrey Victor Bulla, has called on the Director of the National Traffic Police to revoke his recent controversial order reducing the validity of drivers’ licenses from five years to one year for South Sudanese nationals and from one year to six months for foreigners.
Major General Kon John Akot, Director of the National Traffic Police, issued the order on 4 January 2025.
Bulla referred to the order as a violation of the Traffic Act and South Sudan’s constitution.
“This is very unfortunate. The action of the director is just a total violation of the law, the constitution, and the Traffic Act of the Republic of South Sudan. In actual sense, the director of traffic police has no power to amend or enact any law,” he stated. “The Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan has given the mandate to form, amend, or pass a law to the parliament. The Parliament of the Republic of South Sudan is the only body that has the authority to amend or change the laws in the country. This is under the principles of separation of powers.”
The advocate added: “The action of the director of traffic police should be disregarded because it is not only offending the constitution, but it is offending the aspiration of the people of South Sudan.”
Bulla contends that any action that violates or abrogates the constitution is null and void, and that action in itself is not a law and cannot change Section 85 (sub-section 4) of the Traffic Act that was passed by the parliament which says the registrar shall issue driving license for five (5) years.
“So any administrative decision or directive by the director of the traffic police does not change the law The administrative order given by the traffic police does not change the law because it is not in line with the spirit of the constitution, which says it is only the parliament that can change the law or amend the law,” the advocate argued. “I call on parliament not to surrender their constitutional power to any institution, such as the director of traffic. I, therefore, direct the director of traffic police to read Section 85 (Subsection 4) of the Traffic Act which mandated him to issue the driving license for a period of 5 years.”
Bulla added: “We call upon the director of traffic to respect the constitutional mandate of any institution under the separation of powers, he should respect the duties of the parliament to form laws, and the judiciary and the executive roles.”
The lawyer also urged citizens to resist such unlawful directives.
“We call upon all the citizens to resist such behavior. We call upon the parliament to strongly come up and stop such actions and put the director of police in his place, and to make him know that he does not have the power to change any law,” Bulla concluded.
Gen. Akot’s order also imposes different alterations to driver’s licenses and directs that all applications must be submitted to the National Traffic Police for final approval before production.
“In regards to the above-mentioned subject, be informed that the duration for the driver’s license to nationals (South Sudanese) is reduced from five years to one year while for foreigners, it is reduced from one year to six months,” the order read in part.
However, TNLA First Deputy Speaker Nathaniel Oyet Pierinio on Tuesday afternoon wrote on his Facebook page that he met with the Deputy Minister of Interior (Acting Minister) Hon. Mangar Buom, the Spokesperson of the South Sudan National Police Service, Chair for Specialized Committee for Security and Public Order, Hon. Kom Kom and His Deputy Hon. Samuel Loti, to discuss the urgent matter of the controversial order issued by the DG for Traffic Police on the reduction of duration for Driving License to one year for nationals and six months for aliens.
“We have resolved that since the order contravenes the best practices of the Standard Operation Procedure in situ and the regional practices, the Ministry of Interior has been directed to rescind such order with immediate effect,” he wrote. “The ministry is advised to work with South Sudan Revenue Authority on any matter affecting the Financial Act 2024/2025, and further, to table the Draft South Sudan Traffic Police Bill in Parliament as soon as possible.”