By William Madouk
Juba High Court is set to rule on whether dismissed UAP staff and their legal team will gain access to locked documents within the company’s premises.
The hearing yesterday was adjourned and scheduled for March 1, 2025, due to a shortage of original documents.
“The reason for the adjournment is the unavailability of original documents, which are locked inside the company, and the company is preventing former employees from accessing the premises,” the plaintiff’s attorney Marko Reech explained.
“As a result, we are having difficulties obtaining those documents. The judge has given us another date to retrieve them, and we have formally requested permission from the court to do so,” he added.
Reech noted that the documents in question belong to two former employees, which include their personal paperwork and certificates.
When asked about the release of UAP Managing Director Mr. Japheth Omare, lawyer Reech indicated that there is no reason to keep him in detention since he is currently attending court sessions.
“Yes, the UAP Managing Director was arrested for failing to appear before this honorable court and for refusing to receive the summons issued by the court,” the advocate explained.
“The court’s objective in detaining him was to compel him to appear, and now that he has complied with the court order, there is no intention to continue his detention,” he clarified.
In October of last year, UAP Insurance dismissed at least ten national staff members for calling for improved pay.
This decision contradicted an order from the Ministry of Labor to reinstate the ten dismissed employees due to a dispute. The issue led the National Staff Association (UNSA) to file a legal case against the insurance firm.
UAP and its national employees have been at odds over unfair treatment and differences in wages between national staff and their foreign expatriate colleagues.
This conflict prompted about 70 national staff members to stage a sit-in strike, temporarily halting UAP’s operations, although some staff eventually returned to work.
Luka Nyarsuk Nason, Chairman of the Labor Advisory Council, in a letter dated September 29, 2023, requested UAP management to suspend all administrative measures taken against staff.
In October, the Ministry of Labor issued a long-awaited verdict on the ongoing issues between UAP management and national staff regarding unfair treatment and salary structure.
Mary Hillary Wani, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Labor, directed UAP to reinstate the ten national employees who had been dismissed.