Kiir says era of impunity on corruption crimes is over
July 9, 2013 (JUBA)- South Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayardit reiterated in a speech delivered in the second commemoration of the independence day that his government will no more tolerate corruption and vowed to persecute people involved in such crimes.
Kiir went further to say that “the days when mistakes were being committed with impunity are gone. During our transitional period, obtaining independence was our priority. Now that we are a free nation, our fight against corruption shall not be confined at the national level only, but will extend to the states, counties and anywhere that there is public spending”.
Many times in his speech, Kiir reaffirmed he is the president of South Sudan, reminding he has the responsibility to ensure that public funds are used to develop the new nation and provides services to the citizens and to achieve social justice.
The celebration of the second anniversary was attended by four presidents including the “Chief Guest” Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, of Botswana, Paul Kagame, of Rwanda; and Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, of Somalia. Also were present, the Ethiopian deputy prime minister Demeke Makonen, the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission Erastus Mwencha, and Thabo Mbeki, Chairperson of the African Union High Implementation Panel.
Alluding to the criticism emanating from activists and human rights organizations, Kiir was keen to say that several bills on human rights, freedom of expression, right of access to information, the media authority and the information and broadcasting are currently in the reading stages and will be enacted soon.
The South Sudanese president further said “troubled by the alarming crime rate” in the cities, stressing on the need to impose more discipline among the organized forces ” we must reflect on how we can change the situation”, he said.
He nonetheless underlined that huge efforts has been made to professionalize and reorganize the security forces, including the SPLA, national security and police services.
He admitted that services have been poor in the past year citing education, health, security and water among others and promised to work hard to change the conditions.
“These scenarios must change. As your President, I promise you that we will work tirelessly to change them”, he told the thousands of the people who gathered at the Mausoleum to celebrate the country’s second anniversary.
Kiir said that the living conditions of the people need to be improved, pointing out that many citizens hardly afford a meal every day. He also underlined the difficult conditions of the SPLA soldiers saying their salary cannot meet their needs.
Regarding the normalisation process with the Sudan, Kiir repeated the commitment of his government to the implementation of cooperation agreements and the implementation matrix. “This is the only way to ensure the viability of the two states”, he added.
But he called on the Sudanese government to work with Juba to fully and unconditionally implement those agreements and to reach an agreement over the “final status for Abyei”. He further said “this issue cannot pend indefinitely”.
(ST)