By Yiep Joseph
As the festive season approaches, civil servants are urging the government to clear at least six months of the one-year salary arrears.
The 8th Governor’s Forum recently passed a resolution demanding the immediate release of salaries for civil servants and security personnel accumulated for a year now.
Civil servants are now calling for the clearance of unpaid salaries from the previous fiscal year (2023/2024) before Christmas to alleviate the financial hardships faced by public servants and their families.
Christmas, a religious holiday celebrated on December 25th, is a time of joy and togetherness. However, financial constraints can dampen the festive spirit.
In an interview, Awer Achol, a government teacher, expressed that the delay in the salaries would increase conflict in families’ Christmas approach.
She appealed to the government to pay six months in order to allow families to pay loans they have been borrowing and prepare for Christmas and the New Year.
“For us to know that our officials were committed, let them clear six months from that one year we need from them so that we pay what we have been borrowing,” she said.
She added that most of the families continue to borrow and beg from relatives in other sectors in order to survive in the absence of salaries.
Achol expressed that it is so hard for a parent to enter Christmas Eve with no money to buy clothes for children.
She appreciated relatives and friends who continued to show up and help during the months civil and organized forces continued to push with no salaries.
“Us with no salaries, we appreciate God and some of our relatives working in companies and NGOs; when we request, they give, and I wanted our government to help and pay most of our months before Christmas,” he said.
Ajah Tong, a civil servant with the Ministry of Youth and Sport, emphasized the need for the Ministry of Finance and Planning to prioritize payment for civil servants and organized forces to celebrate with the rest on Christmas Eve.
She called for the immediate release of funds, adding that due to the depreciation of the South Sudanese pound, their current salaries if paid, will not solve any problems in the family as Christmas and New Year’s Eve approach.
“Our salary is small, and we need six months so that we can prepare for Christmas and New Year,” she said.
Tong called on the government to ensure that the workforce is paid before Christmas, adding that most families may break, as the man head of the families may fail to provide.
“A father who worked with the government with no salaries will have a problem with children and a wife who need Christmas clothes, not everyone that understands why the government is not paying workers,” he said.
Meanwhile, Koul Abur urged the government and the Ministry of Finance in particular to release at least more than two months before December.
“I urged the government to pay three months at least or six months before Christmas; this will help us to buy clothes for our children,” he said.
He called on the leadership to develop a caring heart, claiming that most leaders can buy Christmas clothes for their children through allowances and never think of those without salaries as Christmas approaches.
Abur expressed that the birth of Christ in Christianity required peace of mind among the believers, adding that such can be possible only when people are paid and have what to eat and put on.