Authorities are trying to hide information about the origin and quality of 1000 tractors imported at the initiative of President Salva Kiir, according to the editor of one of South Sudan’s daily newspapers.
Editor-in-Chief of The Citizen newspaper Nhial Bol said that National Security officers followed his photographer to the newspaper’s premises after the photographer had taken photographs of the Belarusian-made tractors.
As reported by Nation Mirror, a newspaper forcibly closed by the National Security but still running a website, the security officers ordered The Citizen not to publish a story about the origin of the tractors.
Officials including Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek had claimed that the tractors were Massey-Ferguson brand, which are produced in the United States and Europe, but photographs obtained by Radio Tamazuj prove that at least some of the 1000 tractors are actually Belarus brand.
Nhial Bol criticized the censorship of his newspaper and also slammed the tractors program itself. “Belarus tractors were stopped in Russia since in 1991, but our president is busy distributing these tractors that have no spare parts,” he said, as quoted by Nation Mirror.
“Mr. Nhial said that the media is not at fault to inform the nation about the defects in President tractors’ program. ‘So, is it not the role of media to highlight this faulted information to the people that if you are given a Belarus tractor you will not get a spare parts in the next few weeks[?],” reads the media report.
Nhial was speaking on Tuesday at a World Press Freedom event in Juba.
According to the online encylopedia Wikipedia, Belarus tractors are “infamous for their low quality compared to western manufacturers.”
Photo: Tractors brought for agriculture projects in South Sudan at the initiative of Salva Kiir
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