JUBA, July 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Using a speech to mark Independence Day, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has apologised to civil servants who went without salaries for several months.
Kiir said the failure to pay the money was “caused by weak governance” in the departments that are supposed to raise funds and pledged to personally get involved in the issue.
Last month, the finance minister was unable to present the annual budget because MPs walked out over the salary issue.
The eighth anniversary of independence in South Sudan is not being marked by big celebrations as there is a shortage of money, the information minister told Juba’s Eye Radio on Monday.
“My fellow citizens, I want all of us to encourage our sons and daughters to embrace peace and maintain the peace,” Kiir said in the speech.
South Sudan slid into war in 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup.
A peace deal was signed with the opposition in 2018, but the UN says violence in one region has since intensified.
Under the peace accord, a unity government will be set up to enable Machar to return from abroad, but the process has been hampered by quarrels.
Kiir, in a gesture to the opposition parties, thanked them “for their commitment to the peace agreement.”
With the oil-rich country struggling financially, Kiir’s government has been unable to pay troops and civil servants for months, prompting parliament last month to block the budget in protest.
“I am fully aware that our people are angry because of the difficult living conditions imposed up on them by insecurity and economic hardship,” said Kiir.
“(…) I want to sincerely apologize to you my people on my own behalf and on behalf of my government.”
The peace agreement was the key to the country’s turnaround, he said.
“Security will return to South Sudan, our economy will thrive and we will be able to better deliver important services to our people such as schools, clean drinking water and create jobs for our people,” he predicted.
The UN said last week while the peace deal had seen a decrease in violence, fighting in southern Central Equatoria province had continued.
South Sudan — the world’s youngest nation — has been battered socially and economically by the long civil conflict.
Oil output, which accounts for 98 percent of state income, has fallen by more than half since independence in 2011, when it reached 350,000 barrels per day. — NNN-AGENCIES
