Juba City Council meets with striking water tank drivers
The Juba City Council authorities on Wednesday evening held meeting with water tank drivers after they went on strike over stringent conditions imposed on them by authorities.
The protest by the drivers came in the wake of authorities introducing compulsory inspection for their vehicles to ascertain their hygiene conditions.
Michael Lado Allah-Jabu, the Mayor of Juba City Council told journalists during the press briefing at the City Council headquarter that they have introduced inspection for the water tank vehicles after every six months.
“We inspect the water tanks to ensure that they are clean, and also ensuring that those working are medically fit,” Allah-Jabu said.
“As the mayor, I am surprised by the behavior of some of the business people, it is for the first time foreign business community can go on strike against the policies of the government,” he added.
Allah-Jabu said that foreign business people are running retail business instead of dealing in large scale business such as wholesale and factories.
“We are able to open our hearts to share business with foreigners as the people of South Sudan, we have been in crisis of the war but that will not be taken as an opportunity to violate our policies,”Allah-Jabu said.
The water tank drivers are the main lifeline of water consumption for businesses and residents across Juba.
Robert Pitia, the Chairperson for Central Equatoria State Chamber of Commerce, said that some of the foreign business owners have taken advantage of the volatility in currency exchange rate to increase prices without consultation.
“There is crisis happening, number one, the issue of water tankers, once things increase they should not act on their own they should come back to authorities and see what exactly they can increase,” Pitia said.
“Secondly, the issue of closing the shops is not good, we do not even want our government to close down any business if there is any problem we have to sit down and talk and see the way forward,” he added.
