We don’t have cash to splash on independence fete, Makuei

The 11th anniversary of South Sudan’s declaration of independence will not be officially observed, said government spokesperson Michael Makuei.

Another low-key marking of the day will come in a chain of lack of activity which runs to 2014, when the country had a brush with the civil war in late December 2013.  South Sudan has not held an official Independence Day celebration due to what it believes to be a ‘lack of enough resources.’

Mr Makuei told the reporters on Friday that the administration had postponed the holiday so that it could use its limited resources to deal with the most pressing problems such as the implementation of the peace agreement.

According to Makuei, President Salva Kiir will address the nation on the evening of July 8, 2022, as part of the celebration. The local governments in the states and administrative regions are allowed to do so.

He said he believes that the graduation of the forces who have been in the training facilities should be the focus of attention and not “large public rallies.’’

“After thorough deliberation, the cabinet found out that yes, there is a need for us to celebrate, but the celebration will be of different types other than being the normal celebration, because at present there are so many issues at hand that we need to address and making that big celebration means a lot of expenses,” he remarked.

“This is what we have decided so that we avoid incurring more expenses at a time when we are preparing the little money that we have for the graduation of forces and the implementation of the agreement.’’