Civil society coalition demand for change in South Sudan

July 31, 2021 (JUBA) – A coalition of South Sudanese civil society groups has unveiled a public campaign demanding for political changes after 10 years of the young nation’s cessation from neighbouring Sudan.

The initiative, dubbed, “We have had enough” comes against the backdrop of what the group says is the ruling party’s (SPLM) failure to govern the country.

“South Sudan’s intractable crises are directly as a result of leadership failure. South Sudan’s leaders have failed to promote a strategic and shared vision for the country and the country is simply floating and drifting without guidance and obviously without a clear direction,” partly reads the coalition’s declaration.

A decade after its independence, more than 7 million people or 60 percent of the population in South Sudan are at risk of facing hunger, aid agencies say. Also, a civil war that started in mid-December 2013 killed more than 400,000 people and more than 2 million are still displaced in the neighbouring nations.

Calling itself the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA), the group said South Sudan has lost its moral, political, economic and cultural bearing with no collective sense of higher purpose.

“People are simply pursuing personal interests, while the nation is rotting and collapsing. The people of South Sudan desire a new direction and a new strategic and shared vision to move the country forward,” the statement noted.

Rajab Mohandis, the group’s representative urged citizens to join the coalition.

“We have had enough of war, enough of corruption, enough of insecurity, enough of economic hardships, enough of public neglect and leadership failure. Its time to come together for a common goal,” he said on Thursday.

The civil society activist, also Executive Director of Organisation for Responsive Governance, warned of possible collapse due to the “weak” leadership in the country.

“It is now glaringly obvious that this dysfunctional government cannot deliver peace, security and stability which the country desperately needs,” stressed Mohandis.

The group, in its July 31, 2021 declaration, also devised several means through which it its campaign would evolve, including the use of education, indigenizing religious institutions, nationalizing traditional rites of passages and promoting music and culture in the country.

(ST)