Protestors close office of Jonglei State governor

By Simon Deng and Ruot George

Civil servants in Jonglei, protesting for allowances and double increment in salaries closed the office of the governor on Wednesday and as well shut the State Secretariat, Veronica William Deng, the Minister of Information, said.

 “The state employees say that their money was cut, instead we have increased their salaries by 100 percent,” Deng told Juba Echo by phone.

“They have closed the offices in the state secretariat including the office of the governor,” she said.

“As government, we will have to sit down with them to find a way forward, to resolve the ongoing problem in Jonglei.”

Samuel Majier, the Acting Chairperson of the Workers Trade Union said the striking workers have been urged to give government a chance to resolve the matter, noting that the workers will give three days for the government to find a solution.

 “When the governor came, he issued an order scraping all allowances and that is another problem. The government also made us to protest because they plan to arrest every individual involved,” Majier said.

“We have been convinced by the deputy governor to give him three days to solve our problem so now I am going to talk to protestors to wait for three days,” he said.

The Chairperson of Jonglei state Civil Society, Bol Deng Bol said three of the protestors are being treated in Bor hospital

“They were met by the government with heavy hands, there was shooting in the air, one-person sustained fracture,” Bol said.

He said the situation is slowly returning to normal though.