By Nakwam Rose
Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, has urged Juba City Council to renovate internal roads.
Yakani expressed in a statement extended to the media, that the status of the infrastructure in Juba is worsening.
He added that the series of potholes continue to widen on city roads with no immediate intervention from the City Council.
“The status of infrastructure in Juba City Council is deteriorating and is creating hardships for citizens to perform their duties in delivering service to the common good of the citizens in the country.” Yakani said
He expressed that poor infrastructure will more likely paint a bad picture of the country to the world, adding that the city is the ultimate welcoming view to visitors and tourists accessing the country.
He posed a firm question to the city council committee, saying, “How do you feel when the convoy of the president hits multiple potholes?” He questioned
“Of course, he will ask, ‘Where is the demonstration of commitment of the resource taxes collected from citizens in reflection of fixing infrastructure?’” He continued.
Yakani urged the Juba City Council to reconstruct and renovate roads by making use of the numerous taxes collected for development.
“I am appealing to the lord mayor to please undertake the responsibility of improving infrastructure. We are aware how aggressive you are in the collection of taxes.” Yakani expressed.
He points out that the taxes are supposed to be used for the own good of the citizens and the betterment of the country rather than personal benefits.
“Are those taxes going to your pockets, or are they supposed to be translated into a service for the benefit of the common citizen? Your aggression on tax collection has not been seen as an aggression for making development and growth of human society,” he said
The activist affirmed the civil society role in monitoring the use of taxes collected from the taxpayers.
In a separate statement, Yakani called on the director of traffic regarding unfair treatment by traffic officers.
He explained a scenario where a fire brigadier officer was being aggressive towards small business owners like restaurants and saloons because they didn’t have a fire extinguisher, which he said was an excuse to squander money out of them.
Yakani urged these security teams to sympathize with the innocent civilians because everyone is experiencing the economic hardships similar to them.
He urged the leadership of traffic police to disciplined forces to perform their assigned duties without going astray.
“Try to discipline the officers that you have tasked to provide safety and protection of the common interest of a citizen,” he urged.