A member of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Tuesday voiced concern over the silence of the executive and other security organs over the recent spate of gun violence in Juba.
This comes following a series of gunshots reported in the city with the most recent incident on Saturday evening in which one person was reportedly shot dead and another injured at the Seventh Day roundabout.
In a separate incident, a police officer identified as Lt Marial allegedly opened fire in a restaurant in Hai Cinema injuring about five people. The two incidents and another shootout in the Sherikat-Gumbo suburb caused panic.
Raising the issue in the House on Tuesday, Bol Joseph Agao, a National Democratic Movement party (NDM) lawmaker, expressed disappointment over the silence of the police and the national security, saying the public needed to be informed on the state of security in Juba.
“Honorable Speaker, last week and part of this week, Juba city was in anxiety and people are living in fear,” he said. “There is a lot of uncertainty because of rampant killings and shootings in restaurants and the House has not asked to know exactly what is happening.”
According to the law-maker, the shooting at the seventh-day roundabout a few days ago was so heavy that it attracted the attention of the citizens and caused anxiety.
“The shooting at Seventh Day roundabout was so heavy that it was like a real battalion war in a certain country where there is war. There is too much silence from the executive and from the TNLA Security Committee to brief the House on what is happening in this country. There is indeed an economic crisis and there is nothing that the executive of this country is doing about them,” he indicted. “The silence has shown that the executive is failing to do the right thing. All the civil servants have not been paid for ten months. The insecurity in this town, let alone the other parts of the country, is an anxiety. We need to know from the Committee of Security and the various organs of security what is exactly happening in this country.”
According to Agao, the citizens deserve to know the motive behind the unnecessary killing of civilians in Juba by unknown gunmen.
“Why are people killing themselves within the city and no explanation is coming from the security organs? You go and find it is the Ministry of Defense giving public information when there is police and the National Security,” he said. “The Ministry of Defense/SSPDF spokesperson, General Lul Rai Koang, is always talking to people about what is happening and we do not have to hear from the defense. We need to hear from the National Security Service. We need to hear from the police. The IGP and the Minister of Interior should tell the nation what is exactly killing the people.”
However, Nathaniel Oyet Perino, the first deputy speaker, attributed the high rate of crimes in Juba to the economic situation which has caused frustration among the citizens and that parliament will summon the ministers concerned.
“The increasing cases of crime around the town and the country is all in relation to the difficult situation that our citizens are going through,” he said. “I have directed the legal advisor to trace the resolution or summon for the relevant ministers.”
Oyet added: “I followed the media the other day and the budget has reached the Council of Ministers, I think they adopted it and it might be coming with some package to salvage this situation.”