By Joseph Loful
A group of disgruntled youths based in the towns of Kapoeta and Torit in Eastern Equatoria are accusing Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) of discriminative staff remuneration and biased recruitment procedures disenfranchising locals.
A youth representative who spoke to City Review anonymously from Torit testified that he suffered a similar fate after a job he applied for and passed the interview was offered to a Ugandan national.
“I was one of the victims who applied for humanitarian agencies job. I was shortlisted and passed the interview,” the source said. “Later, the organization brought somebody from Kampala and gave the job to the person. This is one of the things that angered us youths to write a petition to the government,” he added.
The source also revealed that favoritism in recruitment process is compounded by sexual abuse where female job seekers are sexually harassed before receiving employment offer and any attempt of resistance means the offer will be forfeited.
“A certain lady was asked to apply for a job which was not even advertised. So, when the lady took the application, she was given the job. But later, the manager convinced her to sleep with him. When the lady tried to refuse, he threatened to cancel her job, but no way, she accepted to offer her body for sex,” the source said without mentioning the organization.
Skewed pay
The youth representative complained that Nongovernmental Organizations in the state and the country at large offer better job remuneration to foreigners, leaving them only with basic salaries or sometimes wages.
“The amount of money they pay us as locals is only $50-800 per month, but to foreign employees they pay $2500-3000 per month plus allowances and other benefits which we do not get at all,” he lamented.
The youth called on the state government to take keen consideration into their concerns warning of possible consequences if their demands are not met.
“If the government fails to address our issue within two weeks, all the communities in three greater counties where Monyiemiji comes from, will not attend to any activities of the organization or UN agencies work till our issues is addressed,” the youth representative said.
The Youth Union Acting Chairperson in Torit Orupi David Oyek echoed that the youth in the state have been exploited in terms of employment by foreign-owned companies and UN agencies operating in the state.
“Actually, the employment of youth by NGOs here is not fair, because this is also what I experienced two years ago. I have been monitoring this problem from one organization to the other,” Oyek explained.
Government petitioned
David Eriga, Secretary General for Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Kapoeta South revealed to City Review that youths both in Kapoeta and Torit wrote a petition to the government asking to review NGOs employment criteria in the state.
“The youth are mostly demanding employment which the NGOS are giving to outsiders and leaving them out. Secondly, they complain that some of their girls are being lured to sex for the sake of employment,” Eriga revealed.
According to local media reports, Eastern Equatoria state Minister of Labour, Public Service, and Human Resource Development, Agnes Florence Udwar said the matter will be considered.
“Yes, it is true, when they came to my office, they presented the petition and one of their leaders read the petition and gave me the copy. I told them that am still new in the ministry, we will go through with my director because they are technical people so that we see what to do,” Udwar said.
Section 18 of the NGOs Act, 2016, states that potential employers should ensure that not less than 80 per cent of the staff members in all levels of management are South Sudanese nationals. It also states that employers should engage foreigners only if there are no qualified South Sudanese professionals available for the existing positions.