![Chairperson of the Information Committee of the National Legislative Assembly, John Agany Deng speaks after adjournment of parliamentary sitting in Juba on Monday, 8 April 2024. [Photo by Sudans Post]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG_1000.jpg?resize=1024%2C428&ssl=1)
John Agany Deng, Chairperson of the Information Committee of the National Legislative Assembly, and assembly spokesman told reporters on Monday that such a change would undermine the NSS’s ability to defend the government.
“If you are raising rebellion against the state, it is not work that can be contained by the police. I think anybody with the right mind will never say we have to remove this,” Agany who is also a member of the ruling SPLM party said.
“Otherwise, we are making ourselves vulnerable and we become a failed state because, all in all, the government has to be protected, the government has to be organized and the government has its forces to defend itself,” he added.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit and First Vice President Riek Machar had agreed in late February last year to remove sections 54 and 55 of the NSS Act, which gave the agency the power of arrest without a warrant.
The controversial NSS Act, passed in 2014 and amended in 2019, has been criticized for granting security agents broad powers, including the authority to detain suspects, monitor communications, and seize property.
Agany argued that removing the arrest powers would weaken the government, noting that security forces are disciplined and operate under a chain of command.
An arrest warrant is a court-issued document that authorizes the police to detain someone accused of a crime.
The National Security Service, particularly its Internal Security Bureau (ISB), stands accused by citizens, rights groups, and clergy of human rights abuses.
These allegations include kidnapping, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced disappearances, and summary executions at facilities in Juba and elsewhere in the country.
“when a country has a National Security Service – there is NO security for the Nationals”. close NSS and transfer its function to police and military. no need for a NSS which acts with impunity and acts to surpress political life. we have all seen this. Kiir and Machar are right in limiting NSS powers.
Hon. John Agany Deng, Chairperson of Information Committee at the National Legislative Assembly and Spokesman, got it wrong when he said quote: “If you are raising rebellion against the state, it is not the work that can be contained by police” unquote. Section 54 and 55 of the National Security Service Act which give security agents powers to arrest without warrant is draconian and must be removed to enable citizens to have confidence in the Government. The work of the National Security Services is to collect information for analysis before passing it to the relevant authority, but not to arrest people without warrants. It is the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF) who have the mandate to protect the country from internal and external agressions.
Spot on, but also, Police should manage security and SSDF only handling border security. same as in all civilised nations.