Salary delay is a problem looking for a solution in South Sudan
Malek Arol Dhieu, South Sudanese medical doctor, writer and journalist
By Malek Arol Dhieu, Juba, South Sudan
Sunday, 21 April 2024 (PW) — When will that leader, that very leader who pays the civil servants and soldiers on monthly basis, come? What is wrong with leaders who are tasked with the payment of the civil servants’ salary? They work to the best of the people’s expectations in other parameters of the government. But when they are appointed to lead economy-boosting ministries and departments, they work as if they are possessed. They come as transparent as glass, but when they assume offices, they immediately become as opaque as wood.
If the gods of the salary demand a fat person to be slaughtered as a ritual, they should come out openly and tell people. I can offer myself though I’m not fat. If there is an elephant at the gate of the Central Bank, then they should tell people to help them in what to do. I personally know a retired hunter and he is so cheap to hire. If there is no hindrance at all, then what is the problem?
It is confusing which direction should a blaming finger be pointed at. Ministry of Finance and Planning? Central Bank of South Sudan? Presidency? Bilpam Headquarters for the case of soldiers? Which direction really? To me, honestly, I can point at the presidency as the one responsible for this yearly payment of the salary. If the presidency were the presidency of the citizens and, not the presidency of the individuals, what would prevent it from ordering the Ministry of Finance and Planning or the Central Bank to pay the civil servants and soldiers on a monthly basis?
If the last year’s shocking statement that “there is no money in the Central Bank” is true, then what are civil servants doing in the offices? They go to the offices and work to generate money, and by now, they must have generated enough money to pay them for two years. Where does this money go to? Could there be a hidden Central Bank within the known Central Bank? Is the money diverted on its way to the Central Bank? But honestly, there is no point to blame an institution which is instructed to do something. I rather blame the instructor.
Which country pays her civil servants three or four times a year? It is sad to talk about! Despite no salary payment, the civil servants still go to work with rattling stomachs and with a big worry about the starving children at homes. They go to work, expecting that today may be different. They go to work in expectation of a good news to take home to the children. But unfortunately, the news remains shocking that “there is no salary this month”.
You do not know how unpleasant it sounds in the ears of the civil servants. If it almost kills the civil servants, how about their children at homes? Every time a civil servant goes to the office, his children expect to see him returning home with sandwiches, but unfortunately, he returns home barehanded. Not even one or two loaves of bread in his hands. Where will he get money to buy sandwiches? He knows the salary is not there, but his children do not know it. They think their father has become what they call “akul borou” in Arabic.
Despite no salary payment, soldiers still pick their guns and protect the citizens day in, day out. Some soldiers are sent on an international mission without money. A good example to cite is that of soldiers who were sent to DR Congo to fight M23 rebels. Some soldiers are rotting in training fields and their salary is being eaten by “specialists in salary consumption” while a majority of soldiers are in the forests of South Sudan cutting down all trees that make good charcoal for survival. I thought the government of South Sudan would learn from the sad story of a soldier who has named his child “Weu Aliu”.
If there is no salary completely, there should be something closer to the salary to give to the civil servants and soldiers to work with enthusiasm. If there is no one in the presidency with the heart of paying the civil servants and soldiers on a monthly basis, it means the leaders to pay the civil servants and soldiers on a monthly basis may be found in the 22nd generation.
Unless someone takes over power by force, but if hierarchy is followed like I know it is being followed, then after President Salva Kiir Mayardit, each of the 5 Vice Presidents will become president, spending years not less than 20, and there will be salary delay as usual. 10 or so more years of President Salva Kiir Mayardit in power and 100 years of the 5 Vice Presidents, approximately 20 years each, summing up to two centuries of salary delay.
If it continues as so, how would such a situation be explained? How would South Sudan, a country where civil servants and soldiers work unpaid, progress to catch up the developed world? Salary delay is a disturbing problem in dire need of a permanent solution.
Thanks for reading “Sowing The Seed Of Truth”.
You can reach the author, Malek Arol Dhieu, via his email address: malengaroldit@gmail.com
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