Idleness: The Mother of Poverty in South Sudan
By Samuel Reech Mayen, South Sudan
May 8, 2015 (SSB) —- The cause behind rising poverty is the idleness that has intoxicated minds of the people across South Sudan. People are idly sipping hot tea, smoking shisha, playing indoor games and endlessly gossiping. These routines have robbed people off the obligation to work.
When the masses of South Sudanese were in Khartoum, they contributed manually to the constructions of towers and all sort of manual work that could help them earn a living. From the overseas countries, South Sudanese are annually sending millions of dollars that they earn from hard work such as weeding in the plantations, serving food in the restaurants, fishing in the seas etc.
Their commitments in the respective places do not only reimburse them to live good lives but have also added to development. Regrettably, these commitments end when ones step on the land of South Sudan.
Currently, much of the manual works are being done by the foreigners. These range from fetching water from the Nile, fencing homestead, digging anything that needs to be dug, serving food and drinks in the restaurants and Bars, cleaning in the hotels, driving public Taxis and the list goes. All these jobs do not need any technical skill but people have opted to live jobless life when their country is being drained in their watch.
In this case the Biblical principle of “who does not work should not eat” is a maxim that needs force to drive idlers to work. The extreme poverty in a potentially rich country is due to the failure of the people to make use of the exceptionally fertile land and their reluctant to do jobs that are available in the market.
People are crying over the inflation but effect of Dollar could not have been felt by the citizens if the local agricultural products were being sold in the country. Like in the instance of the neighboring Uganda, an ordinary farmer that produces food for commercial purposes does not need hard currency but simply transport his/her products to other towns for sale in Uganda Shillings. How can a food-secured nation cry for hard currency?
Production is a responsibility of every person for it is for personal welfare. Many people think that wealth is only acquired in the government offices. This is a wrong concept. Government officials in a professionally regulated system cannot make money in the public offices.
People clustered in the compounds of people who work in the government offices as their sole breadwinners. When a job like fencing the house which does not require scientific skill is being done, people resort to look for a foreigner to do a job. These foreigners that are hired to do the jobs take advantage of idlers who prefer to live miserable lives despite their abilities to earn money through work.
Many factors might have contributed to these attitudes of dormancy which has exposed the population to many negative consequences. These causes are linked to the previous experiences and the traditional mindset;
First, the Humanitarian aid that was provided to the IDPs and Refugees during the war has resulted to the development of the mindset of enjoying free things. Most of the youths of today grew up in an environment where jobs were rare and could not see any exemplary of a hard working person that they could learn from.
Secondly, the South Sudanese spirit of commensalism makes people over rely on their relatives. Since South Sudanese have the traits of sharing things, they feel that whatever one person owns in the extended family is for everybody. Thus, people rarely struggle to have their own property. This has developed the perception of what my brother owns is ‘ours’.
Thirdly, primitive pride is the overriding factor that people are not ready to do some blue-collar jobs to earn a living. Paying close attention to the songs that are sung by some youths, there is an indication that those ones who are committed to make a living by doing proletarian jobs are teased. People think that they are doing indecent jobs. These make people shy away from doing manual jobs and remain redundant like their colleagues.
Fourthly, lack of policies and laws that ensure that people work for their welfare is another cause. No single person has ever been taken to a court to answer the charges of his or her idleness to act as deterrence of such behavior. This vacuum is therefore being exploited by the unwilling workers who have chosen unproductive life.
Fifthly, corruption is another disease that is affecting the nation powerful men. Many people with abilities to serve the nation are subjected to idleness because their immediate relatives have access to public resources and can divert them for the benefit of these inactive people.
Therefore, they just enjoy what is being brought to the house and fail to contribute. This involve adding the name of the idler into the payroll but does not go to work as he/she receives money at the end of the month with the rest of the workers.
With these and many more causes, these attitudes and behaviors have adverse effects on the individuals and the public of South Sudan as a whole;
The end result of living dormant life is severe poverty. Life is all about acquiring wealth through work but those who do not work end up living poor life. The extreme poverty also results to the crimes of theft and cattle rustling which is a rampant practice today in the country.
Pick-pocketing is already increasing in the bus stages in Juba particular in Konyokonyo market where thieves shamelessly thrust their hands in passengers’ pockets or snatch women hand bags.
Idlers are also top gossipers in the country. Sitting somewhere close to the idlers is a nightmare as they create things that do not exist. Tea cafeterias are congested with amusing gossipers who entertain their redundant colleagues with propaganda. These witty gossipers have voluntarily chosen to entertain people with lies which are damaging to individuals or groups.
The other worse result of idleness is that, in a country where little is done, development is therefore unrealistic dream. If citizens do not farm and they cannot do manual work, how will development be achieved? National Development lies in the hard work of the citizens.
Lack of commitment to do manual work by the citizens attracts foreign workers who do not invest their money in South Sudan but only suck the economy. The output of their work is only realized in the development of their respective countries of origin.
Although the country has been hit terribly by the rebels’ activities, some parts are stable and ought to ensure that farming is intensified to reduce importation of foodstuffs. Import of foodstuff is expensive as it requires hard currency which has so far risen sharply against South Sudanese Pound. The youths also need to do manual works that are available.
Lastly, South Sudan needs clear provision of the law that penalized idlers. This legal sanction shall drive people to live active lives. In addition to the tractors that have been provided by the government, awareness needs to be intensified to ensure that people develop positive attitudes toward all sorts of works.
The author lives in Juba, South Sudan and can be reached at: mayenreech@gmail.com or 0955 079 266.
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