By Bida Elly David
Transitional National Assembly rebuked the Director General of Traffic Police for referring to the parliament as “illegal and illegitimate” in overseeing matters of the force.
On October 13th, 2023, the Director General of Traffic Police, Maj. Gen. Kon John was quoted by Eye Radio describing the parliament as illegitimate and can not make decisions on the force.
But assembly spokesperson, John Agany Deng said the parliament is the legitimate body that makes the laws of the country, describing the remark of the Director General of traffic police as an insult to the Parliament.
“He has no right to insult the national Parliament, which is the third arm of the government,” Agany blasted.
He said the law empowers the national government including the Parliament, to play an oversight role in every institution across the country.
The lawmaker said the “mocked parliament” is the very institution that amended the constitution, paving the way for the operation of the traffic police directorate.
“If it is not legal, how could the national parliament amend the constitution and integrate the agreement? That general needs to answer this question,” a furious Agany echoed.
He described Gen. Kon as a military person who has no relation to politics and its affairs.
“We have passed internal treaties; how can this general invalidate the national legislature? As a militant, he has no right to interfere with political affairs,” Agany said.
The assembly spokesperson said the traffic chief won’t escape from the hands of the lawmakers as he will be questioned to present facts about his argument and mockery.
However, Agany clarified that parliament has not yet decided when the director will appear before the house, but the speaker expressed concern over the call for summoning Gen. Akot.
The genesis of the matter seems to have stemmed from an August motion passed by the Assembly for the issuance of permanent logbooks, contrary to the yearly renewed ones.
The parliament also ruled out the directorate of traffic police from the production and issuance of logbooks and driving licenses.
According to the Parliament, the responsibility for the production and issuance of logbooks lies with the Ministry of Transport, not the Interior Ministry.
However, the director general of traffic police, Maj. Gen. Kon John was not comfortable with the decision of the Legislative Assembly.
He became furious and disagreed with the resolution of the parliament on logbooks, relocating the responsibilities to the transport ministry.
“Lawmakers are interfering in traffic police affairs, and they are not technical people, and they don’t know anything about it,” Kon argued, at that time.
He insisted it is the role of the traffic police to ensure the inspection of all cars and issue necessary documents according to what the law says.
“When you bring a car for renewal, we do a lot of things before logbook renewal, and there is money collected by the revenue authority of the country,” he said.
He maintained that parliament was interfering with the work of traffic police.
But another lawmaker, Moch Rech Tang, a member of the specialized committee for security said the house plays roles beyond the generals.
“The attitude of the director general of traffic police makes me question if he is a military general in the police who went through training. How did he come into that high-ranking position?” Rech queried.
He questioned whether the traffic police director general underwent in-depth training, claiming his unprofessional attitude towards parliament and his behavior would not have been abnormal if he had undergone professional military training.
“He should know how the government works as a result of the peace agreement. There is nothing called an illegitimate parliament,” he defended their legitimacy.
He said the security committee has pledged to intensify action against General Akot for his unprofessional mockery of parliament.
“We have that on the table that he will come to us to answer. There are things that I will not disclose right here that I have heard about him, especially his relationship with the president,” Rech maintained.
“These are things that we will hear from him; this is uncalled-for indiscipline in the military that can endanger the lives of the members of parliament,” he added.
Rech echoed that the issue of renewing the logbook was not the matter, but using derogatory terms against the parliament defines a lack of ethics.