Students still won’t return to Juba

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Students still won’t return to Juba
Ayuen Panchol | August 31, 2017 | 3:10 pm
Netball teams clash During the Gulu games on Aug 26, 2017 | Photo |
Ismail Kezaala

A meeting between the ministry of general education and the students
who have refused to return to Juba after Gulu games have reached a
deadlock.

The ministry owes the over 130 students ($200 each) a total amount
$22,000 in incentives.

It insists that the children have to return to Juba first before
getting the money.

But the over 130 students who participated in the regional secondary
school games in Gulu last week say this is a trick.

Even after the ministry chartered two planes for them, they say if
they returned, they would not get a dollar.

Speaking to Eye Radio via telephone from Nimule this morning, the
undersecretary at the ministry of general education, Michael Lopuke,
said “The ministry had planned to pay them in Juba next week.”

“So we had arranged for their flight back to Juba,” Mr Lopuke stated.

“And as I’m speaking to you, there are two planes on the ground in
Nimule, waiting to pick them.

“[But] there is a consensus among them that they are waiting to be
paid here in Nimule. So this is the current situation.”

The students, who are now sheltering at a church compound in the
border town, base their decision on earlier empty promise by the
ministry.

They told Eye Radio on Monday that they ended up surviving on asida
and beans meal after the ministry failed to offer each team $100 for
food.