Supreme Court judge warns judiciary becoming vulnerable to bribery due to poor payment

JUBA – South Sudan Supreme Court judge Justice Ayak Der Kom Awan, has decried poor remuneration of judges in the country, saying the underpayment make them compromise or become vulnerable to corruption in the course of their justice dispensation.

“The salaries we are getting can even make the judiciary accessible to bribery. If somebody comes to you and is ready to give you 500,000, or 300,000 SSP then you will be able to do things he wants you to do,” Der told Sudans Post reporter in an interview on Thursday in Juba.

Awan revealed that most judges do not have the means of transport to report to work which sometimes face them to resort to footing.

He said, as a result, many of them do not report to work regularly due to lack of transport.

“The judges in Supreme Court don’t have transport; some of us go on footing. We are now going for two to three years without cars,” he told Sudans Post reporter.

He expressed con­cerns over the state of the offices, wondering how government has failed to provide to an important institutional which plays a key role in the formulation of the third arm of government.

“If you are paying judges in Supreme Court 30,000 or 20,000 as a salary and within this amount, you have to buy food for the family, water, and pay for electricity bill and paying of school fees for the children. This salary of 20,000 is too small for the judges,”

He said the poor pay could the judge’s compromise justice in favor of their personal interest

“If somebody is willing to pay you good money and your children are crying and you have no money to buy medicines for your children then you will prefer to take the money than letting your children die,” he said.