PUBLIC STATEMENT ON THE DETERIORATING LIVING CONDITIONS OF THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH SUDAN BY ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT  

Dear Public, 

March 15, 2024(Nyamilepedia) —This is the Statement issued on behalf of the Ordinary Members of the Transitional National Legislature (TNL) in solidarity with the general public and citizens of the Republic of South Sudan. As a matter of fact, we have to acknowledge that our Country and citizens are facing the worst economic crisis in our short history since 2011. 

For the above reasons, therefore, we, the ordinary members of the TNL would like to draw the attention of our citizens to the fact that we have not forgotten them and promise that we shall use our parliamentary mandate to fight for the improvement of their economic conditions in this Country. 

Our decision to take this action came as a result after we have waited and seen that the National Parliament is not taking an action and it is not in session for us to raise the matter in the Chamber. Moreover, we have also been trying to push the Parliament into action so that it intervened by taking tough measures against the executive but it so far failed.

 We were expecting as we have been complaining to the leaders of the Parliament to take tough measures against the government officials concern, specially, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, the Governor of Central Bank of South Sudan and the South Sudan Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority but for some unexplained reasons, the Parliament has not been able to convene itself in order to be in position to summon the aforementioned government officials. 

Moreover, we were also expecting His Excellency the President to address the country on the move of the government to control the economic crisis by telling the Country as to what is his plan to arrest the runaway inflation but so far the President has not come out to address the Country. This has put the whole country in an uncertain situation. As a result, the economy has lost confidence as it is heading towards total collapse as our currency (the Pound) is becoming hopeless and unstable every hour of the day.  

For the above reasons, we, the Ordinary Members of the TNL have decided to come out openly by making this statement to tell the public and South Sudanese citizens in particular that we are feeling your pains caused by hopeless economic conditions.  Hence, in this Statement, we shall explain the general economic problems across the Country to show the citizens that we know the conditions which they are going through and to explain as to why it is not easy to control the economic crisis and then give recommendations on what should be the way forward. 

Coming to the economic conditions, as we make this statement, our people are trapped in very dangerous economic conditions being propelled by the runaway exchange rate. The rate as we make this statement is over SSP 1,700 per dollar. This has consequently raised all the prices in the market.  For instance, public transport is SSP 500 and above, bodaboda transport is SSP 1000 and above. 

Prices of all food items have skyrocketed and are not affordable by ordinary citizens in all big cities. The cup of tea that used to be SSP 500 has gone up to SSP 1,000. Many government employees walk to their places of work or some do not come to their places of work because of transport. Essential needs such as medication, shelter and education have become very expensive and only those who have access to public resources can afford them. In short, ordinary South Sudanese citizens have borne a full brunt of the economic crisis as the majority of them eat once in 24 hours while some are uncertain where to get their next meal. 

Rural areas where the citizens would have gone for refuge are also unsafe as they are captured by merciless insecurity as seen in almost all the states of South Sudan. The insecurity has affected food production as it has uprooted communities and thrown them into towns where they have become helpless and dependent. As a result, they are being exploited and used as political tools by politicians who have acquired wealth from public resources. 

In addition, members of the organized forces who are entrusted with security and lives of the citizens are weakened by economic meltdown. Many have ended up committing suicide while others have turned into robbers or thieves. Many have resurrected the business of roadblocks to illegally collect taxes. They have been forced to engage in illegal activities because they are not able to care for their families while they are being kept to guide government buildings or infrastructures that do not pay them for their work. 

Unfortunately, as the economic crisis is deepening, the government seems to offer no solutions, while the economic conditions keep worsening every hour. The government officials such as the executive and the National members of Parliament are watching helplessly as the country and her people are being terrorised by the furious economic crisis. 

In other words, the country has totally surrendered to the economic crisis as the executives who are supposed to come up with policies explain wrong diagnoses to the cause of the economic crisis. As some of the national executives tried to explain some days ago, business persons or traders are the only effect but not the cause of our economic crisis as they tried to explain to the general public. Thus, the causes of our economic crisis are—

1. The crisis in our economic system has its roots in the rampant corruption as the Government officials are not able to account for the resources that ate under their management. The way the government officials deal with finances leave much to be desired as they do not control corruption or they spend government finances as they wish without fear of accountability and punishment. This has given an opportunity to uncontrolled expenditures by the government officials that affects the government priorities.
2. The uncontrolled expenditures of the government have led to the failure by the government officials to follow the budget lines that has further led to the spending outside the budget which affects the government finances and priorities. 
3. Failure to follow the financial laws has affected the management and encourages corruption without fear. For instance, Article 180 (2) of the Transitional Constitution, 2011 as amended provides that all the revenue and expenditure of each level of government shall be on-budget operations and made public as the case may be. 
4. The government institutions and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning have so far failed to adhere to these Provisions of the Constitution that has resulted in failure to follow the financial guidelines. 
5. The failure to account in accordance with the law governing the budget, which requires the government expenditure and revenue to be on budget has given individual government officials to manipulate the budget or divert the public funds without accountability which always come back to the general public and citizens in terms of financial crisis and poverty.
6. The failure by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning to present to the National Legislative Assembly final accounts for all revenue and expenditure at the end of Financial year as well as expenditure withdrawn from the reserve funds in accordance with Article 91 (1) of the Transitional Constitution has affected transparent and accountable management by Government Spending Agencies or Institutions. Lack of transparency and accountability in the system affects public resources and government priorities hence the economic crisis due to the lack of production in the country.  
7. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, which is the custodian of the public funds, is supposed to manage the public finances with the public knowledge. The failure to inform the public on how the national revenues are being managed has encouraged corruption and misappropriation of public funds by government officials, hence the collapse of the economy of South Sudan becomes inevitable.
8. Importantly, the failure by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to inform the general public on total revenues of government collected from the sources of National Revenue under Article 177 (2) of the Transitional Constitution, 2011 as amended has led to the collapse of our economy as the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning does not have control over the public finances which has further affected the ability of the Central Bank of South Sudan to control the market. 
9. In relation to para. 17 above, the sources of the National Revenue  of South Sudan are— (a) oil and mineral revenue;  (b) national personal income tax; (c) corporate and business profit tax; (d) customs duties and import taxes; (e) airports and river transport revenue; (f) service charges, fees and fines; (g) national government enterprises and projects; (h) value added tax or general sales tax on goods and services; (i) excise duties; (j) loans and borrowing from the Bank of South Sudan and the public; (k) grants-in-aid and foreign financial assistance;  (l) fees from nationality, passports, immigration and visas;  (m) royalties; and (n) any other tax or revenue as may be determined by law, which we do not know the total income generated from these sources. 
10. The National Revenue Authority (NRA) which is mandated under Article 177 (1) does not have control over the collection of Revenue from the above sources of National Revenue which affects the ability of the Government to generate enough public finances to increase production. The private citizens are the ones collecting public revenues on behalf of the NRA, which makes it hard for the NRA to know the income generated from all the sources under Article 177 (2) of the Transitional Constitution. This has led to the weakening of the currency and increases in prices in the market hence the collapse of the economy. 
11. Though the system is operating under the decentralisation arrangement, there is no coordination between the collection of taxes at State and national levels. Article 179 of the Transitional Constitution provides for sources of State revenue which are not managed transparently by the State authority. This affects the amount of revenues collected at state levels which further affects the investment at State and local government levels. 
12. Rampant corruption and failure to punish those who are found to be corrupt. This has encouraged mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds. Hence, the investment activities are destroyed through corruption.
13. Failure by the government to control or eradicate white-collar crime, which is a nonviolent crime often characterised by deceit or concealment to obtain or avoid losing money or property, or to gain a personal or business advantage. 
14. In conclusion, the economic crisis in South Sudan is caused by the mismanagement of the public finances by the public officials in different government institutions. The causes of the economic crisis as we explained in 12 points above is the basis of our current uneconomic crisis. For the country to be stable, it is recommended that—

1.  The above root causes of our economic crisis must be addressed besides the establishment of the Anti-corruption court and with powers to impose the death penalty on those found corrupt after trial;
2. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Central Bank of South Sudan and the National Revenue Authority should be independent in their role to manage the economy in the best interest of South Sudan;
3. The Single Treasury Account should be established or fully made operational where all national revenues collected from different sources are deposited and put under the control of the Ministry of Finance in the Central Bank of South Sudan;
4. The Rampant shuffling of the Government officials should be avoided and the Auditor General should be empowered to audit the government institutions annually in order to be the one recommending for the removal of government officials and appropriate punishment because of corruption;
5. The auditor chamber should be strengthened to audit all government institutions including the office of the President;
6. In addition, the operation for all government offices beginning from the office of the president should be budgeted for and their expenditures must be within the budget and transferred from one chapter to the other in the budget should be done with the approval of the Parliament;
7. The trips of the government officials beginning from the office of the President to the other branches of the government should be budgeted for and regulated by the Parliament; 
8. The collection of revenue from both state and national levels should be centralised and the budget of the State increased and its management monitored by the national Parliament;
9. No private citizens should be allowed to collect taxes except with the permission from the NRA in collaboration with the National Parliament. All collection of revenues in all sources at both national and state levels should be under the exclusive control of the NRA and all revenues collected by the NRA should monthly published for education;
10. The Access to Information Commission should be reconstitution to enable the citizens have effective access to information as a way of fighting against lack of transparency and accountability that will help to eliminate corruption in public sector;
11. All public officials and servants should be made clear to them that they have the burden of proof in all defamation cases to avoid public officials abusing defamation law to protect corruption in the public sector. 

NB//: for more information, please contact the representative of Ordinary Members, Hon. Juol Nhomngek Daniel, MP, TNLA, Cueibet County, Lakes State, Juba, South Sudan; email: nhomngekjuol@gmail.com;