JUBA, South Sudan: A video showing a mayor in South Sudan slapping a female street vendor has gone viral. Now he has been sacked.
In the video, Emmanuel Khamis Richard, the acting mayor of the African nation’s capital, is seen wielding a pistol and walking up to where a policeman and a woman vendor are scuffling as the police are trying to clear a Juba street of illegal vendors last week.
He the slaps the woman and walks away as the police operation continues.
The video was shared widely on social media, prompting an uproar in the national legislature while women’s rights groups and activists have demanded the mayor be removed from office, citing rights violation and poor leadership.
The mayor was then summoned to appear before city hall councilors and when he failed to do so, he was laid off over the weekend.
Khamis Richard, who was appointed June 27, has not commented on the incident.
He is the third mayor of Juba to be sacked since the formation of the transitional government in South Sudan.
Bol Deng Bol, an activist in Jonglei State, which borders Central Equatoria State where Juba is located, described the mayor’s removal as a significant step in ensuring accountability.
Bol, who chairs the Jonglei Civil Society Network, also urged for a civil lawsuit against the mayor.
The mayor’s successor has yet to be appointed.
A mayor in South Sudan sacked since he was caught on video slapping a female street vendor
https://arab.news/z82ym
A mayor in South Sudan sacked since he was caught on video slapping a female street vendor
- The video was shared widely on social media, prompting an uproar in the national legislature
- Women’s rights groups and activists have demanded the mayor be removed from office, citing rights violation and poor leadership
Seven killed, scores missing as passenger ferry capsizes off southern Philippines
MANILA: At least seven people died after a passenger boat carrying more than 300 people capsized off the southern Philippine province of Basilan, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
The accident occurred after midnight on Monday as the passenger vessel, MV Trisha Kerstin 3, was en route to Jolo in Sulu province, after departing Zamboanga. The PCG said the vessel had 332 passengers on record and 27 crew.
Coast Guard Commander Romel Dua of Southern Mindanao District told DZBB radio that 215 people had been rescued and seven bodies recovered, while search and rescue operations continued for 144 others who remained missing.
Dua said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the accident.
Basilan Governor Mujiv Hataman shared on Facebook clips from the scene at Isabela port in Mindanao which showed survivors being ushered off boats, some wrapped in thermal blankets, and others being carried on stretchers.
Scores of people die each year from ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands with a patchy record for maritime safety.
