Yiep Joseph
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A section of political leaders is now calling on Vice President Dr. James Wani Igga, who is the chairperson of the economic clusters, to issue a statement detailing the government’s plan to deal with the runaway inflation.
In an interview with The City Review, Dr Jong Anthony, who is the Chairperson of Action for Democratic Change (ADC), argued that the country’s economic misfortunes, characterised by the weakening of the pound, should have attracted the attention of the cluster but this is yet to happen.
He said the cluster was expected to spearhead the economic reforms agreed upon at last year’s National Economic Conference to overturn the country’s economic woes.
“The economic cluster failed to handle the economic situation completely. First of all, the reform measures proposed didn’t change anything simply because what should have been the first was the institutional reform,” Jong said.
He claimed that the institutional transformation would be a priority that would be supported by the cluster in the whole country.
“The cluster would have focused on strengthening the capacity of local producers, that is, by giving incentives to increase their production, which in turn can stabilize the market, and the cluster should have also adopted laws that protect the local producers from foreign investors who are manipulating the market,” he said.
Jong added that the second thing to be done by the cluster and the government at large is to focus on the political reforms necessary for economic growth.
He suggested restructuring the cluster to include experts who will focus on practicality rather than theories that do not work.
“There is a need to revise the cluster to include more economic specialists to help fix the economy, or else it is a matter of time and we shall see the economy collapsing,” he said.
Dr. Ghai Chol, the Chairperson of the People’s United Forum (PUF), urged the cluster to take action immediately to rescue the economy from collapsing.
“I am calling on the Economic Cluster in South Sudan to take decisive action to avert a total economic collapse in the country. It is imperative that the cluster proactively seals off the cartels that are siphoning off valuable resources for their personal gain, thereby exacerbating the economic crisis faced by the nation,” he claimed.
He added that the cluster could place and implement stringent measures to combat corruption and illicit financial activities, a move he believed would help stabilize the economy.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Kuot, the Chairperson of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), claimed that Dr. Wani Igga went mute while the country continued to battle the crisis.
“The head of the economic cluster is doing nothing to restore back the deteriorating economy but rather, he has gone mute accepting the defeat,” he alleged.
Kuot appealed to the government to pay the salaries of civil servants and organized forces on time.
“It is essential for governments to prioritize the payment of salaries and other obligations to maintain stability and provide basic services to their citizens,” he said.
Moro Genesio, Chairperson of the South Sudan National Movement for Change (SSNMC), however, urged the government to conduct a quick meeting to rescue the situation.
“We should be looking into domestic avenues to minimize further economic escalation by convening an emergency meeting with governors and economic clusters at the Presidency,” he said.
However, Dr. James Wani Igga, on separate occasions, including the recent Economic Forum, called for the country to invest in agriculture to boost the economy.
Nonetheless, there have been active measures by the Bank of South Sudan and the Ministry of Finance and Planning to deal with economic challenges.
Notwithstanding the salary delay, the minister of finance and planning Dr Bak Barnaba, has revealed that under his tenure, the ministry set up mechanisms for removing the ghost workers from the payroll.
Last week, the governor of the Bank of South Sudan, Dr. James Alic, warned black market forex dealers that a crackdown would continue until they formalized their businesses.
Alic noted that since the initiative began, there has been a rapid decline in the number of such dealers. But the pound has continued to suffer against the dollar in the black market.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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