2021 is soon wrapping up in hours’ time, and South Sudanese people are eyeing up another year. This means that resolution books are drawn as people lay their blueprints.  The City Review sampled citizens’ voices to understand their wishes in 2022 and filed the following responses from individuals who sought anonymity.

Ayak Chol Deng (32-year-old farmer)

Improved security: The first thing we want is security. If security is good for sure, people will implement their plans confidently. If the government could give [salaries] little to us every month that will be good because we have children who want to eat, who want to go to the hospital, who want to go to school and these days school is expensive even in hospitals. Treatment for our children is expensive now because the salary is not meeting our needs.

Charles Magok (64-year-old educationist)

Peace and stability: We require the government to take the responsibility of making security a priority for the people so that any citizen in South Sudan will not have any fear because whenever security is good, you see each and everybody happy. If South Sudan continues remaining in problems, the neighbouring countries are fed up. There is now donor fatigue on how to cater for the refugees from South Sudan. We cannot continue having our citizens running to neighbouring countries.  

Andrew Nelson (26-year-old student)            

Peaceful co-existence: I would wish the whole of South Sudan, the citizens of this country to live in peaceful co-existence because there is a lot of hatred going around. [People say] I am from Equatoria, I am from Bahr el Ghazal, I am from Unity state, I am a Dinka, I am a Kuku, I am a Kakwa…if we keep on preaching such kinds of things we will not move this country a step ahead. Let us be united and avoid hate, tribalism and let’s consider everyone as equal south Sudanese citizens. Please implement the peace agreement that was signed so that our people in the diaspora and those in the IDP camps will be able to return to their homes. We are losing a lot of people, HIV is all over and there is a need for mass testing.

 Alfred Y Kenyi (Businessman)

If you see all around us in this country, people are yearning for peace. People are dying, suffering from hunger and famine. Some people have been robbed. Let the government pay its soldiers so that they can provide permanent peace. The army must be united into the South Sudan Defence Forces to defend the country and its people. Government must bring total peace to this country.