We are all struggling against corruption- Manyang

Presidential Advisor and the former Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs Kuol Manyang Juuk has alleged that all the politicians and the civil servants working in the current government are corrupt following insecurity in the country.

According to Mr Manyang (pictured), the mounting pressure to feed family members and relatives has pushed the leaders beyond moral brinks, making the ministers and parliamentarians vulnerable to engagement in corruption.

“On our side, we are also corrupt in our government because of the insecurity in the countryside, and, go to homes of our Members of Parliament and Ministers they [are also] corrupt because they get money so that they feed their people,” Kuol Manyang said during the thanksgiving ceremony of Lt.Gen Rin Tueny Mabor who was celebrated for bringing peace in Lake State. The function was organised by the people of Lake State in Juba yesterday. 

Manyang added: “They make the contracts so [that] they can get money from there because of the pressure and insecurity in the countryside. We are not able to feed our people and the people cannot be able to save their property. We became politically independent but economic independence is not there.’’

2018 truce only way 

He stressed that peace is the only solution for all the challenges saying the process should start at an individual level. 

“Peace is not the work of only one person. It [must] be done by all us. Every one of us has a role to play in making peace. Bring peace back because peace has gone away from us and peace does not come by itself,” he said.

In addition, he said the government should enforce the law and it should be implemented to avoid the collapse of the country.  

“Now we have the constitution and it has addressed all these: how we develop the country from the resources we have. If there is no peace there are no lives. Peace and life go together and if there is no law what do you expect?” he said.

The former Cabinet Minister further claimed that some soldiers and police officers escaped duty with their weapons and have become criminals ‘‘because they look for something to feed their family’’.

It is not the first time that Mr Manyang has bombarded the country with damning statements. In March 2021, the staunch SPLM politician claimed that the government had failed in its mandate that it was high time to change and address the needs of the common man. He claimed that since 2005 the government had not built good roads schools and health centres.

Manyang who also served as the Governor of Jonglei State was speaking during the swearing of state officials. 

Presidential appeal

Manyang’s words coincided with the message of President Salva Kiir who appealed to the government officials to embark on delivering services to the people.

In his parliamentary address on August 31, the President appealed to the leaders to avoid divisive politics and embark on service delivery. His speech came at a time that the government had reconstituted the legislature.

‘‘You will also find many areas of agreement in your legislative agenda when the country and its people take centre stage in your deliberations. I know the parties who nominated you to matter, but I call upon all of you to place the people of South Sudan above any narrow party interest,’’ the president stated.

At the time Kiir also urged the legislators to speed up the enactment of legislation to ensure that implementation of the 2018 peace agreement is a success, even as he emphasised the focus of transitioning to the electoral era.

‘‘The steps we have taken and continue to take in this process should give our people, the IGAD region, African continent and the wider international community confidence that the agreement is being implemented despite delays,’’ he noted.

He went on to state that ‘‘we continue to implement the various chapters and provisions of the Revitalized Peace Agreement; we should always remember that our final mandate in this process is to hold free, fair, and credible democratic elections at the end of the Transitional Period’’.

‘‘This means, giving people the power to choose their leaders. And this is a collective responsibility that we must shoulder because it is the only way we can achieve political stability in our country.’’