Dr John Garang's Mausoleum | Credit | Eye Radio

A female lawmaker was allegedly slapped by one of the soldiers guarding Dr John Garang’s Mausoleum earlier on Monday while trying to enter Parliament through a restricted route, accompanied by two male colleagues.

The lawmakers including two males and a female were walking to the parliament through the Mausoleum when the guards confronted them.

According to Oliver Mori Benjamin, the Spokesperson of the National Legislative Assembly, the MPs were on their way to attend Monday’s parliamentary sitting.

The incident, raised in the National Legislative Assembly angered the lawmakers.

“One of the honorable ladies was, in fact, slapped and mishandled by the guards simply because she had entered through the roundabout of Customs and was coming through Garang Mausoleum took a shorter route to Parliament,” Mori explained what happened in a statement to journalists.

“There were actually three people involved. One lady and two other honorable members. That’s where the incident happened, and it came to my office, but by then, it was too late as the Speaker had already entered.”

Lawmaker Mori declined to name the harassed MPs. However, he stated that the Committee on Security and Public Order was investigating the incident.

“I have been working closely with the Chairperson of Security and Public Order, which is already handling the issue seriously. We don’t differentiate between a member of Parliament and an ordinary citizen—any assault on an individual is taken seriously by the Parliament, whether the person is a member or not.”

When contacted, SSPDF Spokesperson Major General Lul Ruai said he was consulting with the military leadership in order to make a statement.