Juba city council boss accused of kidnap, illegal detention

February 7, 2012 (JUBA) – A senior official of the newly established Juba City Council could find himself on the wrong side of the law after the management of Kuel medical center accused him of illegal kidnap and unlawful detention of two of its staff.

The accused official denies all the allegations, saying that he had intervened as the girl was having a secret abortion.

Eye witnesses told Sudan Tribune that on 4 February, Johnson Swaka, the council’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) visited the medical center on learning a female relative has been admitted there and “arrogantly” demanded to see her.

“He [Swaka] on Saturday came here with a group of relatives and forcefully demanded to see the sick girl who had been put on drip. Basically, he demanded to know what she suffered from and the kind of drugs being administered,” said an eyewitness.

The council’s CEO reportedly questioned a doctor and a nurse on duty and demanded that the sick girl be removed from the center and taken to a civil hospital for further medical tests. He also asked to be accompanied by the nurse and the doctor.

“When the nurse and doctor complied with his demands, he offered to drive them to Juba teaching hospital and detained to two in his car for hours,” said an official at the center.

Eve Akundik, the center manager on Tuesday also strongly condemned the detention of two of their staff in an unknown location.

“The manner in which these the doctor and the nurse were arrested was totally wrong. First of all, those who conducted the arrest lack warrants and instead of taking them to the Police if they committed any crime, they detained them in unknown places,” said Akundik.

The ear of the detained doctor was harmed while she was detained, she added.

Swaka, according to the manager, also confiscated two phones belonging to these staffs and another one meant for the office.

“How can a law enforcement officer whose mandate is to maintain law and ensure order instead turn around to abuse the law? This is ridiculous and the law should take its course,” she said.

Akundik also accused Swaka of allegedly conniving with the Police over the matter, saying the manner in which the Police handled the case was “very unprofessional”.

“The officers at the northern division of Juba central Police headquarters even denied us the chance to open a criminal case against the official who illegally detained our staff. What kind of law is this?” she asked.

SWAKA SPEAKS OUT

But in a separate interview with Sudan Tribune, Sakwa completely denied all these allegations, instead accusing the management of Kuel medical center of “failure” to cooperate over a simple case.

“I only went to the clinic [Kuel medical center] to check on the daughter of my father in law after being informed that she had been admitted there. I demanded to know why she was in a private clinic instead of a civil hospital,” he said.

Officials at the medical center, he claimed, declined to cooperate with him when he demanded to know under what condition the girl was in.

“I never ordered for anyone’s arrest, but only requested that the doctor and nurse present on duty accompany the sick girl to the hospital. They complied and all went on smoothly,” he said.

The matter, he said, became a Police case after medical tests reportedly carried out at the main referral hospital discovered the girl was three months pregnant.

“How can you claim to treating malaria and typhoid yet a girl is three months pregnant? If it’s not an abortion attempt, then what is it?” he asked.

(ST)