South Sudan’s central bank on Wednesday directed commercial banks to freeze the accounts of five people linked with the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA) – a coalition of activists calling for political change.

In August, the coalition of activists called for protests against President Salva Kiir's government. However, there was no sign of street gatherings on the date set for protests across the country. Some activists said they were in hiding for security reasons.

 The group, formed on 30 July, has denounced what it termed “a bankrupt political system that has become so dangerous and has subjected our people to immense suffering”.

In a statement seen by Radio Tamazuj, the central bank’s director-general for banking supervision, Moses Makur Deng ordered the commercial banks to freeze and block bank accounts of Abraham Awolich, Rajab Mohandis, Wani Michael, James David Kolok and Kuel Aguer Kuel.

Those affected were prominent during the calls for anti-government protests, which attracted global attention.

The regulator also directed the commercial banks operating in South Sudan to freeze and block all the bank accounts of four organizations linked with the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA).

According to the order, the affected organizations are Sudd Institute, Organization for Responsive Governance, Okay Africa Foundation and Foundation for Democracy and Accountable Governance. 

Rajab Mohandis, who co-founded the People’s Coalition for Civil Action, said they would not be deterred by the move taken by the government.

“These are not bank accounts that have money that could really cause challenges for us. But we know all the accounts are already frozen and blocked. So, the government doesn’t care about those who are working in those organizations,” he said.

Rajab Mohandis is also the Executive Director for Organization for Responsive Governance, a local civil society organization.

When asked about the amount of money frozen from his organization’s bank account, Rajab said: “well, as it stands now, funds in our institutional account has been limited. We are not an organization that generates funds, we just get small projects and we spend the money we get on implementation of projects,” he said.