By Bida Elly David
South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) is facing a serious financial crisis as demand for pensions by retired generals, troubles the country’s defense unit.
The minister of defense reaffirmed the national parliament, that the army’s services are impaired by factors such as poor salaries and lack of incentives for officers to be motivated.
Additionally, the minister pointed out that it has been a challenge to retire the army’s long-serving generals due to lack of funds to pay their retirement benefits.
Maj. Gen. Lul Ruai Koang, the army spokesperson, stated in a statement that the military is having trouble downsizing its most aged generals, owing to a shortage of funding.
Lul further stated that the number of military generals in the army is increasing, noting that there is a need to retire the long-serving officers by clearing their retirement benefits.
He noted that the large number of generals in the army has become a stumbling block to other new reforms that the institution wants to introduce for proper management and setup.
A spokesperson for the SSPDF further predicted future risk as the government rests on addressing retirement fees for officials, noting that there is a problem with the implementation of the pension act.
“We have not been retiring; the best thing we have been doing over the years since we came here in 2005 is transferring officers and NCOs, mostly officers, from being on the active list to the reserve list,” Gen. Lul underlined.
He stressed that the army has never been downsizing veterans, right from the initiation of the Anyaya One movement, noting that the aged officers have normally been transferred to the reserve list.
“As we speak, we still have veterans of Anyanya One in service; as we speak, some are active, some are on the reserve, and some are receiving their salary,” Lul said on Eye Radio’s Dawn Show.
He further echoed that, with the unfriendly situation of delayed pensions, the army had no option but to shift the names of some retired generals from the reserve list to the active list.
“We have had situations of someone who had been taken to the reserve list being brought back to the active list,” he said.
He noted that Bilpam is still unable to retire even some veterans from the first Sudanese Civil War of Anyanya One.
Lul termed the continuous recruitment and promotion of generals within the army as “a risk initiative” since the rate of defection will be high in cases of delayed remuneration.
“One person will defect from the national army, go and form his group, and start a random promotion,” he observed.
He said such renegade officers subject themselves to self-promotion with intent of rising to a higher position and return to negotiate for peace with the government.
“They come back generals, and we are forced as a government to absorb them in the interest of peace, and that’s why sometimes we say peace is very expensive; it comes at a cost.” Lul reiterated.
However, Maj. Gen. Lul did not clarify the current number of generals the national army is bearing or the statistics of the senior officers liable to receive retirement benefits.
The SSPDF spokesperson urged the interim unity government to allot funds to enable retirement of veterans, especially those from the Liberation Struggle.
He also seeks considering implementation of the pension act as a priority.
“For this problem to be successfully fought there is a need to implement the pension act, and the government to allocate some funds so that we embark on the retirement of our veterans,” he noted.