The Mayor of Juba City Council is exploiting workers from Central Equatoria ministry of Physical Infrastructure, Roads and Bridges using them to clean the streets of Juba without extra pay.
Hundreds of workers, mainly women, are put in trucks every day to scrub from ten to midday Juba’s streets semi-covered with sand, without any protection gear like masks or gloves.Today, they were cleaning a stretch from the University of Juba roundabout towards Customs.
A team supervisor told CRN that all the workers come from the ministry and they get their usual salaries.
He said the cleaning operation was organized in collaboration between the ministry and the Mayor’s Office and there is no extra pay for the workers because the City Council has no budget.
One woman worker said it was not good to see dirty streets, so she wanted to clean them for free as a service to God and to her town.
She explained that she gets her usual salary from the ministry with no extra pay for the work she is doing in the streets since last month when the Keep Juba Clean campaign was re-launched.
She said the Mayor should bring food to the workers because nobody including him can work for three hours with only a bottle of water.
Another worker said she also works at the ministry of Physical Infrastructure, Roads and Bridges but her supervisor decided to bring all of them to clean the streets of Juba without extra incentives.
She added that she only gets 230 Pounds per month and the working conditions are very difficult only.
The worker said she is forced to work because there is no other alternative.
Women were shouting “We want food, uniform, masks and gloves.”
Mayor Alhaj Baballah is struggling to keep Juba clean after repeated criticism from President Salva Kiir Mayardit.
CRN withdrew the names to avoid retaliation against the workers who gave their statements.