Keep It in the Family: President Kiir Appoints Two of his Sons as Grade Three Ambassadors in South Sudan Foreign Missions Ministry
By PaanLuel Wël, Juba, South Sudan
Friday, 30 May 2025 (PW) — In this week’s episode of South Sudan: Family First, President Kiir has once again reminded us that in South Sudanese politics, blood is not just thicker than water, it’s also more qualified. In a classic “bring-your-sons-to-work” moment, President Kiir has officially promoted and sworn in his two sons, Thiik Kiir Mayardit (Thiik Achol) and Mayar Kiir Mayardit (Mayar Ayendit), as Grade Three Ambassadors in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
At a ceremony filled with solemn faces and unspoken jokes, President Kiir reminded the newly minted ambassadors to serve with “discipline” and “integrity”, two noble values that apparently run in the family alongside job security. After all, nothing screams “integrity” quite like launching your sons into international diplomacy on a nepotism-powered rocket. President Kiir assured the nation that reforms are coming to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, though some suspect the real reform is just replacing strangers with sons.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Amb. Monday Kumba echoed the enthusiasm, lauding efforts to strengthen South Sudan’s global image, presumably by exporting the First Family. One can only imagine the diplomatic cables now: “Mission Report: All is well. Dad says hi.” Welcome to the People’s Kingdom of Kiiristan & Sons™, where every ministry doubles as a family business and the national motto might as well be: Why trust strangers when you have children?
Now, some critics are crying “nepotism!” However, this isn’t a glitch in the system, it is the system. From Riek Machar appointing his wife as the Minister of Defense to Gen. Kuol Manyang Juuk’s daughter climbing the ladder faster than inflation to Warrap Governor Magok appointing his son as head of state revenue authority, South Sudan’s governance style has fully embraced hereditary politics. And now, President Kiir has decided to give international diplomacy a fatherly touch.
And in this tight race of who can install their offspring into public office the fastest, minions like Dr Riek Machar, Gen Kuol Manyang and Governor Magok may actually be showing some tactical brilliance. After all, anyone other than King Mayardit live life on the edge, a decree today, a dismissal tomorrow. Why waste time building institutions when you can just build a family fortress inside them?
To be fair, President Kiir isn’t inventing the rules, he’s just playing the family edition. After all, when governance is a high-stakes game of survival, who better to trust with sensitive state business than your own offspring? It’s like “Succession,” but with fewer lawyers and more military fatigues.
In the end, while some citizens cry foul and others just cry, President Kiir’s move fits perfectly into the political logic of Juba: secure the throne, secure the bag, and secure the bloodline. Mission accomplished. Think of it not as corruption, but as cultural continuity. We’re not running a republic; we’re running a family reunion with national funding.
So the next time you’re stuck wondering how to land a government job in South Sudan, remember the golden rule of our republic: Don’t polish your CV, polish your surname. The message? If you’re not born into the right bloodline, you might as well forget being born into a government job.
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