By Chol Peter Majoh
Relieve and Rehabilitations Commission (RRC) just a few days ago reported that 9 million South Sudanese are under threat of hunger.
If you are a good follower of this paper, then you must have seen that story on Tuesday. Upon seeing the headline “Over 9 million under hunger threat”, my mind just jumped to our 2023 estimated population of 12 million. Meanwhile out of this 12, 9 million population under hunger threat, what’s that?
No doubt, the country is starving! My worry is not the number of people under the threat, but the survivability of these people in the midst of this hunger severity. To make it worse, there seems to be no one concerned or even worried about this phenomenon among our leaders. I only see money that could be used for curbing this threat going for elections. Now that the money is being allocated for elections, who is going to vote if the masses die of hunger? Hunger is portentously alarming, but our leaders don’t see it. Instead, all that has beclouded their mind is election, election, and nothing else. Perhaps, if I may accuse them, I would say they, of course with their families, are that three million which are not under the threat of hunger.
Look, the reason you see thin people all around the country is not because the rate of HIV has become high. I tell you, it’s just hunger. The reason others talk alone or to themselves in the street is hunger. And if you wonder why the number of street children keeps increasing day by day, just know it’s due to the hunger threat. And the biggest of all is the reason why robbery, unknown gunmen, and conflict are inevitable is likewise hunger.
The adage says: “a hungry person is an angry person.” Indeed, we are hungry and that’s why you see the result of it comes in the form of gender-based violence (GBV), child abuse, suicide, conflict; whatever comes with hunger, name it. People are dying of starvation and no one notices it. If noticed as did RRC, no action is taken against. Dishearteningly, it’s a hunger that continues its action against us.
Did you just notice that no one dared bother to care about pets this time as before as South Sudanese used to do? I hope you did. That’s sad! If a dog or cat comes to your table this time, you will definitely tell it that, “my survivability is in question and that I can’t share this meal I don’t even know where to get it from tomorrow with pets” And not a surprise, pets have begun to isolate themselves from us. They have judged the situation by themselves or else they are scared by our look at them. There are families that are now accustomed (by this crisis) to eating one or no meal a day. For other families, one meal for two or three days and sometimes four.
In 2022, South Sudan topped a damning list of the world’s hungriest countries, a report by the FAO and WFP. From then until now, no change has been realized, what are you doing? This is sad! But as the rainy season is drawing nigh, our government should fund agriculture more than anything else. Election is of course good to be funded, but we need to understand that the targeted voters are dying of hunger and so, it’s great to put them together. Voters at the right hand and elections at the other hand, let them be both and equally funded. This is my request.
Thanks.