South Sudan’s new police spokesman Colonel John Kassara Koang Nhial speaks during a handover ceremony in Juba on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. [Photo by Sudans Post]

South Sudan’s new police spokesperson is calling on the public to cooperate with the law enforcement agency and report any suspected criminal activities across the country.

“This information will help us come up with a program for educating our people, and once we disseminate such information on how to prevent crimes in most of the areas, we will be able to have a secure environment,” he said.

“We will be able to maintain and build citizen’s trust. This is a very critical time because our stakeholders are talking about elections for such matters.

“We need to view citizens safety in a holistic light and work across border to achieve it.”

For his part, Brig. Gen. James Dak, the former deputy police spokesperson encouraged Col. Kassara to cooperate with the media to fight disinformation and hate speech on social media.

“I would advise him [Kassara] that he has a very tough responsibility that needs cooperation. We are now going toward the election, and it comes with so many things,” said Brig. Gen. Dak.

“The media plays a great role in the election and he should be very careful about social media,” he said.

“The hate speech, the division, so any information he receives, before answering he should be positive about it since it can also bring a negative result.

“We are going to cooperate with him and we shall be with him and in case he needs our assistance we will always be with him.”