Adios 2021! As we journey into another year, the trajectory has been smooth to a lesser extent. In his New Year’s message, President Salva Kiir conceded that the government did not accomplish a number of tasks due to pressing economic debacles.

“You all know that we were affected by COVID-19 pandemic, flooding in most parts of our country and the lingering economic hardship since we ended the war in 2018,” Kiir was quoted by The City Review last week.

But the government, Kiir said, is committed to addressing those challenges.

“These are the challenges you rightly expected your government to address. While the financial limitation did not allow us to address these challenges to your expectation, I am assuring you that we are committed to addressing them in the coming year.” And, this is the year.

Salary increment       

One of the major challenges the President implied was the 100 per cent salary increment for the government’s civil servants as promised.

On July 9, 2022, when South Sudan marked its 10^th independence anniversary, Kiir assured civil servants and organised forces that their salaries would be raised to 100 per cent. The timeframe was not given, however.

With heightened hopes, the government’s employees waited eagerly for an announcement ushering in a new dispensation of payment. It never came through.

On to the brick wall

In October, three months after Kiir promised the increment, the Ministry of Finance raised a red flag over the planned salary hike.

The First Undersecretary in the Ministry of Finance, Carlo Ocum, told a weekly cabinet sitting that the new salary structure had outstretched the annual budget by nearly 300 per cent leading to a looming cash deficit should the directive be implemented.

“On the issue of salaries, I want to clarify here that I am glad that the national ministers who are here [were present] when we presented the budget; the tough issue was salary increase. There was a [problem] that when you try to capture this into the budget, it was really above the budget of the Republic of South Sudan,” Ocum was quoted by The City Review in October 2021.

Just like that, the pledge of 100 per cent salary adjustment hit the brick wall.

Protests by civil servants

The realisation that the government would not be able to fulfil the salary increment promise sparked protests in some parts of the country. Jonglei State was the most affected.

In December, medics in Jonglei gave Governor Denay Chagor a 72-hour ultimatum to deliver the salary increment. He promised to tackle the issue but did not make public the mechanisms he would use.

In Central Equatoria State, Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony vowed to double civil servants’ salaries to meet their needs. But that may happen in 2022 or not at all.

Looking ahead

Ten years after independence, government employees in South Sudan remained arguably the most deprived when it comes to remuneration. An employee gets SSP 1000 a month; that’s less than $3 at the current exchange rate.

As that’s not enough, the payment does not come on time. It delays for at least three months.

The government must include the economic welfare of employees on its list of 2022 priorities. This is one of the stickiest issues. Unless tackled, the concern of salary increment would continuously haunt the government, like a goblin.