On Friday national staff working for UAP Insurance Company staged a protest after they were locked from accessing their work for demanding higher wages.
The staff, who are part of East Africa, are seeking fair treatment from international insurance companies.
They demanded that they should be paid the same amount as their counterparts in the East African region, instead, they were locked out.
Most international insurance companies are mistreating South Sudanese nationals.
For example, in 2016, a young girl worked for Britam Insurance Company as a financial advisor and was only entitled to commission payments.
The young girl worked for two years without bringing in businesses but continued to work when she later got a business first from NPA and the second from Plan International, part of the commission was taken by the business company and human resources managers.
After she complained, the Logistics officer at Plan International removed the business from her and gave it to a foreign national and terminated her contract.
Why are Insurance companies cheating and threatening the national staff and denying them their rights?
Foreign nationals seem to have more constitutional rights than nationals in South Sudan, including access to NGOs and doing the work that should be done by nationals.
Many foreign-owned companies, including international insurance companies, banks, and telecommunications, tyrannize nationals, even hired marketers and cleaners are foreign nations. If there are South Sudanese nationals, they are normally paid low wages compared to foreign nationals.
These companies can terminate contracts and threaten nationals when they demand increased payment.
International Organizations are the worst at paying salaries for the same job, and government officials are responsible for protecting foreign companies and organizations.
This oppression of nationals over their rights is not only on inadequate pay, it puts the lives of citizens at risk. Many South Sudanese nationals are redundant despite the existence of many companies and organizations, and the Ministry of Labor is not serious about employment issues in the country.
In the Labor Act 2017 Chapter II (3) says, “For the purpose of this section, discrimination includes any distinction, exclusion or preference with the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation, based on any of the following grounds”
However, the corruption in South Sudan is evident in the lack of effective employment rules, unlike in Kenya and Uganda. For example, in Kenya, they say that “there is no work that Kenyan citizens cannot do” and requires no expert knowledge.
The recruitment system is also exacerbated by tribalism in organizations and companies.
The Ministry of Labor should prioritize the people’s interests and work towards addressing the issue of mistreating South Sudanese nationals.
Any staff who is facing such kind of mistreatment from foreign companies should report to the Ministry of Labor
God Bless South Sudan
Be right back!!!