JUBA-The First Deputy Speaker of South Sudan’s Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Nathaniel Oyet Pierino, said on Tuesday that the Ministry of Interior has reversed a recent controversial order reducing the validity of drivers’ licenses to one year for South Sudanese nationals and six months for foreigners.
This decision was made during a meeting with the deputy minister of interior, Mangar Bouong, alongside other key officials on Tuesday in Juba.
In a statement issued after the meeting on Tuesday, Oyet said the meeting resolved to revoke the order following public outcry over the controversial order issued by Major General Kon John, the Director General of Traffic Police.
The order announced last week was widely criticized for lacking legal basis and diverging from regional and international best practices.
“We met today with the deputy minister of interior, Mangar Boug, the spokesperson of the South Sudan National Police Service; the chair for the specialized committee for security and public order, Kom Kom; and his deputy, Samuel Loti, to discuss the urgent matter of the controversial order issued by the director general for traffic police on the reduction of duration for driving licenses to one year for nationals and six months for aliens,” he said.
He said they resolved to suspend the order, which contravenes the best practices of the standard operating procedure and the regional practices.
He disclosed that the ministry of interior has been directed to rescind such order with immediate effect.
For his part, Col. John Kassara Koang Nhial said the suspension aimed to uphold legal standards and address public concerns over the unclear and potentially unlawful fees introduced by the directive.
“We have sorted out the issue of the license, and we cancelled the previous directive of the Director of Traffic Police. Thus, the validity duration of South Sudan’s driving license remains as 5 years. We apologize for any inconveniences the directive of the Director of Traffic Police has caused,” said Koang.
