Empower Judges to boost justice
If less pay and poor working condition forced judges to quit their jobs, who then will provide justice to the victims of the hideous crimes happening in the country? A 2018 report by the African center on Strategic Studies, indicates that the conflict has devastated South Sudan’s judicial institutions; so, with the launch of Judiciary Reforms Mechanisms yesterday, we hope to see a better justice system which will include holding accountable criminals to pay for their crimes, give justice to the victims, survivors and finally instill hope in the people who have lost it from the judiciary. Year in year out, citizens report their dismay in the justice of our country because criminals are not arrested, no investigations are done when crimes are reported, fortunately when some law breakers test the cold jail cells, some are released while some escape; they call it a Prison Break like Scofield’s. The other sad truth that has been revealed also is that in the crowed prison cell in Juba are prisoners whose terms of sentence are long overdue but the Judiciary has no idea about their existence so they will continue to serve vacuum terms, killing their futures and filling the prisons to capacity. “In our judiciary, a good number of judges have left. One reason could be low pay, the working conditions in the judiciary is not attractive to many,” said the first vice president during the launch of the Judicial Reforms Mechanisms. In June, Peter Lam Both the SPLM Interim Secretary General expressed worry over court repercussion against the government saying people cannot work without salaries, “it was agreed that instead of going in for an increment for salaries structure every time, and that increment doesn’t actually reflect the situation on the ground” he was quoted saying. So, if less pay and poor working conditions are the main causes of government workers quitting their jobs, how then will the government serve the people effectively?