President Kiir blames poor development record on liberation struggle
President Salva Kiir said even though South Sudan gained independence, the armed struggle left the country’s infrastructure in tatters, needing serious investments in facelifts.
Kiir lamented that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLM/SPLM) had greatly participated in the destruction of some useful bridges that connected South Sudan by then.
This happened when the forces were preventing the movements of the enemy by cutting off the linking bridges.
However, he said it was now time for the country’s leaders to work hard to rebuild what had been destroyed during the liberation struggle.
“The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/A) have participated in the destruction of these bridges when we are fighting because we wanted to isolate Juba from [enemy] forces reaching other parts of South Sudan,” President Kiir said on Wednesday during the inauguration of the Haboba and Luri bridges in Juba.
He made a call for support to build more bridges and connect parts of the country.
“[Now] it has come back to us that if we have destroyed one bridge, we will have to build three more bridges to reconnect with South Sudan.”
He said since the collapse of Luri Bridge in 2012, accessing some parts of the country had become difficult, especially Western Equatoria, Western Bahr el Ghazal and Lakes states. As a result, many lives have been lost due to the deadly Luri River.
