Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Police have been deployed to Parliament Building after staff threatened to go on strike over delayed payment.
While the governments yet to come clear where there were such a high number of officer at Parliament, sources told City Review that they police were allegedly called in by the Deputy Speaker after parliamentary staff down tools on Monday, June 6.
The over 1000 parliamentary staff had given a strike notice last week demanding that their six0mont arrears be cleared.
According to City Review reporters at the scene, up to nine vehicles full of heavily armed officers were deployed to the precinct, possibly to deal with the striking staff who’ve not ben paid for the last six months.
A preliminary report indicates that disillusioned workers had tabled their demands with security after a short meeting, according to one of the parliamentary staff who spoke to journalists.
Civil servants have gone for months without pay as the government grapples with high rising inflation that forced the Bank of South Sudan to auction $5 million to caution against a depreciating Pound (SSP).
MPs were supposed to have a sitting on Monday but no major activity is going on in the House at the moment.
A few legislatures, according to our reporter, could be seen taking cover from the scorching sun, under the trees.
“The presence of the police threw parliament into chaos. This is where laws are made. They (police) shouldn’t violate that because the law gives every citizen a right to demonstrate.
“The police shouldn’t even have been there in the first place. Right now we (MPs) are just here, under a tree because there are no staff to even check the register,” Juol Nhomngek Danie MP told City Review.
The workers are currently hold up in a meeting to chat the way forward.
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