Trucks lined up at the office of UNDP during the handover ceremony Photo: Adia Jildo
By Adia Jildo
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP)on Monday 14th February 2022, donated 21 vehicles to the Judiciary system to help access justice in all the states of South Sudan so that justice can be accessed by all.
The donation is part of the support by UNDP to the judiciary.
The judiciary system has been having transportation issues, especially taking inmates before the court.
This has led to difficulty in accessing justice in time hence accumulating the number of inmates in prison.
The vehicles include 14 trucks and 7 land cruisers. The 5 land cruisers will be transported to different states and 2 for the Ministry of Justice in Juba. The project to acquire the 21 vehicles cost an amount of 1.1 million United States dollars.
The trucks will be distributed in all the 10 states including the three administrative areas each truck while Central Equatoria (Juba) will remain with two trucks. 24 vehicles have been so far donated by United Nations Development Fund within the period of six months.
According to the UNDP Resident Representative Samuel G. Doe, the donation is to meet commitment to the judiciary system.
He stated that the commitment was part of the proposal by the chief justices in order to extend justice across the country.
Mr. Samuel said the vehicles will be expediting services and extending justice for all in the states.
“We also promised at that first ceremony that we will also be bringing few more vehicles that would address the challenge of movement and congestion of prison in the country because the opportunity, need and equipment needed to convene to bring inmates from prison to court was a major challenge,” he said.
The Chief Justice, Chan Reec Madut said the UNDP has been a great partner and supporter of justice in the country.
He said the vehicles will deliver timely legal services to the judiciary system and will be put to use appropriately.
He however cited difficulty in transportation of trucks to other states due to insecurity.
“There are some locations which at the moment may not be easily accessible with this kind of car because of insecurity, which we need to coordinate with the governors,” he said.
He called for support to get buses for the support staff in the states to reach their places of work.
“In future, we will continue to cooperate but not to exaggerate our needs,” he assured.