By Bida Elly David
A Civil Society activist and concerned social expert has cited passive progress of the country’s economy and education system due to corrupt leadership who focus on individual interest rather than prioritising public interest and cautioned them to pour blames against citizens.
Speaking to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday, Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO) said mismanagement of resources by leadership to serve individual interest instead of fighting for food security has impacted the country’s economy.
“The leadership of the country right from the bottom up to the top have failed both politically and technically. You cannot use the oil money for buying vehicle spare parts and cars instead of using it to invest in agriculture. We can all be equated in the level of leadership that we are all corrupt. Corruption does not mean walking away with public money but manipulating decision making and taking no responsibility in designing a decision and that by itself can mount to corruption” he argued.
He further justified government’s failure due to employment of wrong people in the right positions despite the fact that not all of them are sycophants.
“South Sudan government has failed because it has not got the right people who make decisions at all levels. I am not saying that all are bad but the few that are available are forced from within by the colleagues’’ he said.
At the same note, Yakani predicted the negative impact of the national budget amid exemption of food relief to South Sudan by the World food program (WFP).
“South Sudan with the support of JICA three years ago adopted what they call the Comprehensive Agricultural Master plan (CAMP) which was intended to increase access for food security. Government is going to face a big shock in the national budget where by the World food Program (WFP) two days ago has declared officially that they are suspending food assistance to South Sudan for 1.4 Million people that are food unsecured and we have flood in the Country going on, deadly inter communal violence that are politically motivated by the politicians’’ he echoed.
In continuation, Yakani jagged out that the approved national budget did not allocate possibility of feeding a million domiciles.
“Our national budget has not given a budget allocation that will even feed one million people. Where is the leadership here right from the people who started building the budget in the ministry of finance? They are not so serious. I can’t blame the Minister or the cabinet for having allocated money, it is actually right from the technocratic level of the Ministry of finance who have not taken food security so serious and now we are shocked that the Country is going to face starvation that will increase insecurity in the Country which will be a serious disaster’ ’The 2022-2023 budgets have to be food security focus because of WFP withdrawing food assistance to South Sudan. Here, the problem is that the leaders are not focused’’ Yakani jagged
Furthermore, he underscored that failure in the education system was due to lack of informed leadership in terms of resource investment into the education system.
“South Sudan Education system has failed because the political leadership of the Country and the technocrats are not in right truck. The way we invest in Education is with the tendency of just making children know how to read and write but not generation that is productive. It is of recent that South Sudanese are taking casual economic sector that involves baking chapatti, selling sugarcane. Our leadership has totally failed since our education system teaches us that one need to have certificates, degrees and masters to have a job’’ He said
He added that the situation would only change if the leaders focus on reality and total change to ensure nationalism and affirmative service delivery.
In his part, Jimmy Romario, a senior educationist and an economic expert said, government should stop blaming citizens for having contributed amid the Country’s failure.
“The responsibility of the Country’s leadership is to provide citizens with services instead of blaming them towards failing the Country. If services don’t reach them to the maximum, how do you expect them to be happy? They should rather admit that they have failed and ready to improve’’ he said.
Jimmy added that to have a positive education and economic systems, corrupt leaders need to refrain from their acts and think about the country.
“If we need to improve the education sector, there is need to boost production and promote learning as key tools for development rather than focusing in self-interest and egoism’’ he said.
However, he reiterated that unless the leaders reform from the tendency of corruption to patriotism, the Country will never move to better level.