Biar, Subek, and Kuol

Some members of the public are calling on President Salva Kiir to fire the heads of air transport institutions over plane crashes – citing negligence.

They say Kiir should sack the minister of transport, Madut Biar Yel; the Chief Executive Officer of the civil aviation authority, David Subek; and Kur Kuol, the director general of Juba International Airport.

South Sudan has poor road infrastructure and aviation safety records.

As a result, some cargo are airlifted.

Since its independence in 2011, many planes have crashed in the country killing about 100 people.

Yesterday, another Antonov crashed on Gondokoro Island, shortly after take-off from Juba International Airport – killing all the five crew members.

A manifest seen by this media outlet shows that the aircraft AN26-  flight TR-NGT– belonging to Euro Airlines – was carrying 28 drums of fuel to Maban County, Upper Nile State.

In November 2015, a similar plane crash left 37 people dead.

The Russian Antonov AN-26s, which were manufactured in 1969 – were black listed by the Flights Safety foundation in 2006.

Other countries in Europe, Asia, America & most African countries – including South Africa, Angola, Kenya & Somalia.

In May 2021, the South Sudan Civil Aviation Authority ordered all airline companies operating Antonov An-26 to cease operations until further notice due to multiple fatal crashes.

Two months earlier, it said it would screen all airline operators in the country to stop the recurrence of plane crashes.

Reacting to the matter, some members of the public have expressed disappointment in the manner which the government is handling the air transport institutions, saying it is not living up to its words.

They spoke on Eye Radio’s morning show, the Dawn…

“I demand for the removal of the minister of transport, CEO of aviation authority and the director general of JIA and anyone who is in charge of flights in this country. They should all be removed,” said Ustaz Majok in PoC Juba.

He continued… “This issue of plane crashes has become rampant every now and then, everyone wants to have an airline Company. No, this is not a bus or vehicles, imagine this Antonov AN26 operating here is dated back to the 1960s, we are not a dumping ground.”

“These people think it is a joke, this is not a public transport, this is a plane, it flies in the air. Because of the weakness of our leaders these foreign companies bring old planes to us, these are scraps.”

David Magok from Juba says the government has failed to protect the people.

“The government is not really protecting the lives of people of South Sudan, otherwise, this system of transport, those who are in charge are either dismissed or the airport is completely stopped,” said David.

“If you can see, even a bishop of a Church has died in 2018 because of this negligence, people are dying and we are not taking actions. These planes are very old, they have been old since the second world war.

“There is no country where people fly from a city to a state, even the closer states like Lakes and Jonglei people are flying, even Yei, which is a county under CES, people are flying to go there. Every year people are dying, apart from unknown gunmen, people are dying by plane, so where will the citizens go?” David asked.

Amum from Renk also called on the government to regulate air transport.

“Our government is actually not concerned about the value of lives of citizens, the planes operating here have to be checked, they should be regulated by this government, and they should know whether they are outdated or updated,” Amum said.

He blamed this on the failure of aviation authority. “This is a failure of the aviation authority in our country. We don’t have experience, there is no garage to repair planes.”

“You can’t have one person holding the same position since independence and there is no change, they should all be removed and replaced by experienced people.

“This is a clear negligence of our government, why do you allow the same mistake every year, the government should take this issue seriously.”