Tereza Jeremiah
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Workers and Trade Union Federation of South Sudan (SSWTUF) is urging the country’s leadership to modify and adopt civil servant salary structures at all levels to align with the current economic situation.
The request comes after several complaints by civil servants since last year, with Jonglei civil servants being the most vocal after their salaries were delayed.
The Chairperson of SSWTUF, Bona Jong Angok, stated that as the nation celebrates its 12th anniversary of independence, the authorities should improve the living conditions of civil officials across the country.
He said that despite the difficult economic situation, the people of South Sudan have been patiently expecting good responses from the government to withstand the hardships.
“Our people are peaceful, but they need assistance to be happy.” Consider that most of our civil servants’ monthly payments can’t support their families for every day… “This is serious, and our president needs to step in, and parliament should play their role as lawmakers.” he said.
“Of course, we are aware of the government’s plans for salary adjustments, but this time, we need action, not just words,” he continued.
A year ago, Bol Deng Bol, a civil rights activist in Jonglei State, called on the state government to act and avoid knee-jerk reaction when the workers demonstrated.
“The leadership of civil servants in Jonglei State, Workers’ Trade Union (WTU) petitioned the government on January 5th over salary delays plus missing allowances and threatened to organize demonstrations if their demands aren’t met within a period of two days,” Bol said.
By then, a Grade 5 teacher identified as Lasu had also said that he is earning only SSP 4,600 per month—a pay that could not cater for his needs.
“I want to tell the minister of finance to respect the orders of the president and act according to the orders; not to delay because the more he delays the more people will not respect the president,” he said.
But in his address to the nation on Saturday, President Salva Kiir announced a plan to address economic impacts that have so far affected many citizens. The head of state said the government intended to consider importing cheaper foodstuff and raising the salary of the civil servants.
“Your government is also exploring sourcing food supplies from the region that would be sold at subsidised prices through national companies with the requisite experience in management and distribution of such items,” Kiir said.
“These two measures will serve as mitigating factors for the current economic difficulties as we work to find a permanent solution.”
He emphasised the government’s commitment to reinforcing the weakening South Sudanese pounds through a 400 percent salary increment that is currently under deliberation in the parliament and would be effective as soon as the budget for the 2023/2024 fiscal year is approved.
“On economic difficulties, your government is aware of the negative impact of high prices in the market due to the weakening of our pound. To address this, the cabinet resolved to increase salaries for civil servants by 400 per cent,” he added.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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