The Central Equatoria State Drivers’ Trader Union (CES-DTU) has accused some police officers based in Munuki of beating its members deployed at the bus park on Sunday.

Isaac Osfaldo Loful, the Central Equatoria State Drivers’ Trade Union chairperson, said two of his members, Angelo Paul Kawoja, and Francis Tombe John, were beaten while performing their duties at Lou Gudele 1 Bus Park.

”I received a call that my people who were working at Lou Bus Park were taken by police officers and beaten seriously. As you have seen from their eyes, they were beaten, ” Mr Loful disclosed in a press conference held at their head office in Jebel Market, Juba, on Monday. 

Loful said the two men were beaten because they were trying to direct the drivers not to operate along the roadside but use the bus park to avoid traffic jams.

“Our two men were chasing away the drivers from parking by the roadsides; one of the reasons was to reduce jams, and the other was to let the drivers use the right channel.” 

However, he said the police officers that Mayor Kalisto Lado put in charge of directing the drivers to avoid picking up the passengers from the roadside have turned against the directive and are instead instructing drivers to load the passengers on the roads.

Impunity

He said police officers have taken advantage of drivers who take passengers from the roadside to collect money from them.

“Instead of officers telling drivers to fill their buses from the park, they instead want them to fill from outside. They have their own people who are collecting money from those buses, and that money goes directly to them. That is why they are opposed to the idea of telling drivers to go to the bus park.”

Mr Loful said it had never been the mandate of police officers to collect bus park fees from the drivers.

According to Loful, the drivers’ union is mandated by law to collect the bus park charges, saying his members were beaten when they were carrying out their rightful duties.

He condemned the officers’ behaviour and urged Juba City Council authorities and police to investigate the matter.

Angelo Paul Kawoja, a 51-year-old man, recalled the ordeal that befell him but emphasised that he was lucky to have survived.

“I thank God for helping me to be with you today. As you see me here, I am 51 years old and I look old. That is one thing. The second thing is that I am a disabled person, but despite all this, they beat me,” Angelo said.

He said he was threatened by one officer on Saturday not to stop the drivers from operating from the roadside.

Threatened to submit

“On Saturday, one of their members, who is the head of that place, got me there when I was trying to organise the drivers. He came angrily and told me that I should leave the drivers to do their work in their ways and said he did not want to see me there again, ” Angelo explained.

‘‘He told me to pass the same message to our boss, who is the chairperson of the drivers’ trade union,” he added.

Francis Tombe John, another victim who was beaten by police officers at Lou, said he and his colleague were taken and whipped on Sunday.

“Most drivers refused to go to the stage where they are supposed to operate from. We came to organise and direct the drivers to do what was right. We came and started chasing away the drivers to the bus park,’’ Tombe said.

He said a policeman stopped him to ask why they were stopping the drivers from picking up passengers by the roadside and ordered him to stop.

He said the police took them to their duty station and severely caned them, including the 51-year-old man.

“What pained me was the way they handled the old sick man, Yaba John. I wanted to fight with them after they caned us, but it was the same, John who told me to not fight them, ” Tombe explained.

However, the attempt to reach the police for comment was futile.