By William Madouk
South People’s Defense Force’s engineering corps expressed disappointment that it is not receiving any road contracts.
Addressing the delegates at the just concluded National Economic Conference Dr. Pierre Atilio-Ekwa, said contracts are only awarded to civil companies, stating that the Army is only allowed to guard the roads.
“For example, let us talk of the Army Corps of Engineers. We have got the Army Corps of Engineers, especially in the aspect of infrastructure development. said Dr. Pierre, who’s also a general in the SSPDF.
“Many of the contracts are awarded to civil populations and civil companies, and then they come to the army to take care of security on the roads. That’s like a contradiction,” he added.
According to him, they have the expertise and capacity to get the job done well, but the army has not been given any construction or procurement contracts.
“Why don’t you just award this contract to our Army Corps of Engineers so that we can compact it with security? These are some of the challenges,” he lamented.
Mr. Pierre claimed that security has been taken as a scapegoat and neglected by many South Sudanese people.
He was giving a presentation on the security environment and opportunities for investment and growth.
Meanwhile, Laguya Kenyi Lupai, a staff at the Defense Ministry said the contemporary security environment is characterized by illegal weapons, ambushes, and attacks against vehicular convoys carrying transit goods and services by unknown gunmen.
“We are arguing that the functionality of the core security forces is dependent upon the bigger part here,” he said.
To him, for the security management and oversight bodies to move, it depends on justice and law enforcement institutions.
“So, we think that in reforming the security sector, probably we also need to start with the reforms here with the security management and oversight bodies,” he said.