By Lodu William Odiya
The Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA) has called on UAP Insurance Company to fulfill its moral and legal obligation to compensate former employees before shutting its operations.
CPA’s appeal followed a statement issued by UAP insurance company Limited, of a plan to close business, in South Sudan.
In a statement to the media, CPA expressed concern that UAP, which had been embroiled in a legal battle with former staff since last year, may attempt to dissolve operations without resolving outstanding labour disputes.
It noted that UAP might narrowly avoid liability in court, and urged the company, to act with integrity and fairness.
“While some reports suggest UAP closed due to internal frustrations, we believe financial and ethical responsibilities to employees are the real issue at stake,” CPA Executive Director, Ter Manyang said in the statement.
“Whatever the reason for shutting down, UAP should ensure its former employees are paid what they are owed” he added.
CPA reaffirmed its commitment to advocating for the rights of workers and called on leadership of UAP, to uphold transparency and accountability as they navigate the company’s closure.
According to a statement issued by UAP on July 4, the company would remain operational for existing insured customers up to expiry of the current insurance period, adding that it would continue to honor claims subjected to policy terms and conditions.
“For medical and life claims, we will allow claims notifications not later than ninety days after policy expiry or the claim date, which is earlier. For pure general insurance claims, we will allow claims notifications later than one hundred and eighty days after policy expiry or claim date, which is earlier. Once this period ends, the company obligation will cease,” the statement reads in part.
However, the statement underlined that they would not be accepting any new insurance business or renewing contracts during the runoff period effective July 3, 2025.
The statement stated that the decision followed a comprehensive strategic review of the business which carefully considered the market conditions in their immediate-to-long term operations.
“The business will require substantially more capital investment in the immediate and medium-term to fund operations, which exceeds what we have planned” statement noted.
In September last year, 57 national staff of the UAP Old Mutual Company staged a strike over what they termed as unfair work environment.
The staff accused the company of unequal payment compared to their foreign counterparts.
However, the company decided to sack the leaders of the national staff association, who later dragged it to court.
The Ministry of Labor later issued directives for UAP to rehire the dismissed national staff, and proposed salary increments.
However, the management of UAP Insurance South Sudan failed to comply with the directives, prompting the former employees to resort to seek justice in the court of law.