By Otto Abut.
The South Sudan Red Cross has refuted putting job advertisements which were seen circulating on social media, particularly on Facebook and Google Space.
This came after an unconfirmed number of South Sudanese mostly youth reportedly applied to various job advertisements seen between June and July on Facebook pages with a logo similar to that of the South Sudan Red Cross.
Jackson Arop Komakech, a fresh graduate from the Kampala International University explained that he fell victim simply when he most needed a job with the Red Cross only to realize that the adverts were not authentic from the South Sudan Red Cross.
Jackson claimed that the advertisers also requested him to pay an amount of 60 dollars as an interview fee, and come along with an International Association of African NGOs Certificate of Accreditation (IAAN), a National Identity Card, a Printed Copy of letter of invitation to interview, Hard Copies of Curriculum Vitae and all academic Documents used during the application process.
[JACKSON CLIP ENGLISH]: “While scrolling through my Facebook account, I came across a page in the name of South Sudan Red Cross Society having a link that one can use to apply for a job to work with them. With most NGOs coming with a website Portal for an application, I didn’t hesitate to follow the prompt of the website and successfully applied, I even went ahead to share with my friends who are dreaming big and yeah it was like a successful day in office for jobless hopeless youth.”
Meanwhile, the South Sudan Red Cross Communication Manager, Pascal Ladu confirmed that several people appeared at the organization’s compound for a Job interview, claiming they were scheduled for the recruitment exercise in late June and early July 2024.
Mr. Ladu refuted that, the Red Cross did not advertise any position on Facebook and urged citizens to treat it as a fake and unfounded act placed by social media criminals to scam the jobless youth.
He said that upon learning about advert that went viral on Facebook, the organization took it with a great concern, prompting the management to the matter on their social media platforms to counter the job disinformation.
[MR LADU CLIB ENG]: “We are aware of that, we have seen adverts published on Facebook that some people copied our photos and then they created their own Facebook accounts with our names sometimes bearing the logo of ICRC, sometimes bearing the logo of Kenya Red Cross but of course, they say Red Cross in South Sudan. The first time we saw this advert, it was of concern to us that people create their own Facebook accounts to disinform and mislead people that this is South Sudan Red cross advertising for Job. What happened is that, we clarified on our digital platforms, Facebook, tweeter, linkedin accounts. We wrote a statement on how South Sudan does its recruitment.”
Pascal urges citizens to verify information circulating on social media to avoid falling prey to scammers who are most common nowadays.
He added that, by thorough verification, one can find the authentic Facebook page of the South Sudan Red Cross.
Mr. Ladu stated that South Sudan Red Cross does not publish job positions on Facebook nor does it on Google forms.
According to him, any job advert from the organization must bear the stamp of the Ministry of Labour which the fake advert lacked.
The South Sudan Red Cross said it remains committed to serving the citizens in South Sudan.
South Sudan Red Cross is a volunteer-led humanitarian organization, part of the world’s largest network of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies operating in South Sudan.
–This story is reported with a bursary from Journalists for Human Rights under the ‘Tackling Mis/Disinformation Project,’ funded by the Peace and Stabilization Program of the Government of Canada.”