Unpaid South Sudan officials struggle to survive

By Parach Mach

JUBA, South Sudan (AA) - Cash-strapped South Sudanese government is struggling to pay its employees as the country’s dire economic situation worsens and inflation soars above 900 percent.

Government employees, including civil servants, judges, university lecturers, doctors and teachers have gone without pay for months because of the economic collapse stemming from the ongoing three-year long civil war.

The non-armed opposition leader for People Liberal Party official Peter Mayen Majongdit blamed the delayed payments on greed, corruption and mismanagement of oil money.

“The little money from oil sales are squandered by individuals, they only care about the presidential guards, and military, these are the security that hold the grip of power,” Majongdit said.

UN sanctions monitors alleged last month that South Sudanese government is boosting its forces using millions of dollars from oil sales to purchase weapons to fight rebellion and dissidents led by former exiled vice president and rebel leader Riek Machar, despite millions people facing starvation.

It says 97 percent of South Sudan revenues come from oil sales however; half of the budget or more is devoted to security, an accusation government denied.

- Government hopes for bailout

Aggrey Tisa Sabuni, presidential adviser on economic affairs, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday it was struggling to pay civil servants despite the fact that government salaries eat up a whopping 89 percent of the annual budget.

Sabuni said the Finance Ministry and the Bank of South Sudan were trying to figure out solutions to the acute economic crisis.

He blamed the government’s inability to pay salaries on the decline of crude oil production and the civil war.

"The economy is facing strong headwinds, with major challenges being experienced in the payment of civil servants and security forces; there has been also great decline in oil production levels due to civil war, this a challenge,” Subani said.

The economic situation may require pouring in more paper money but such a move would worsen the situation further, he said.

“The short-term solution to economic situation is a bailout by international community, IMF and World Bank could fill in the gap,” he said, adding that so far there has been little or no commitment from any of these financial institutions.

- Two-thirds of diplomats unpaid

Nearly two-thirds of South Sudan’s diplomats in its 24 missions abroad have not been paid for six months due to the cash crunch in spite of the fact that the number of staff at the embassies were reduced last year.

Mawien Makol Ariik, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, said: “Yes, our missions abroad are facing difficulties, there are no salaries for the diplomats but they are not the only government employees suffering. Teachers, nurses and civil servants in the country have not been spared.”

He said missions abroad were suffering, but added he appreciated government efforts to resolve the problem.

The government has also been slow in paying the salaries of other public sector workers as well. A string of protests by judges, university lecturers, doctors and teachers have been taking place since late last year despite the government’s record of deploying its ruthless security forces to crush public dissent.

Chol Daniel, a secondary school teacher on government payroll said he has been without pay for four months. He said the government had failed to fulfill its promises of arrear increments and timely payment.

“The government expects me to deliver service without appreciation of my work, four months without salaries and we are still teaching, this is a shame,” Daniel said.

- Harassment from security forces

Dr. James Christopher, who works at The Juba Teaching Hospital, said they will consider going on strike if April too ends up without any pay for them.

Christopher also said security operatives were continuing to arrest and summon his colleagues for voicing their demands.

“When we demand our payment, they call you rebels and security threats and arrest you, this will exacerbate the situation,” he said.

He decried the insensitivity of the government to the plight of doctors, nurses and midwives which constitute the most important unit of medical care in the country. He added the current salary scale of the staff is not enough to meet the rising cost of living in the city.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan’s conflict which erupted after a political fallout between President Salva Kiir and his then deputy Riek Machar.

More than two million people have been displaced.

Nearly half South Sudan’s population faces acute food shortages in a country which boasts the third-biggest oil reserves in Africa.

Ethiopia currently hosts almost 830,000 refugees of which those from South Sudan account for 44 percent.