This fact is clear: South Sudan is not at war with nature. There has been no natural disaster except flooding in some parts of the country. There have been no earthquakes shaking the soil and no locusts descending upon the fields. In spite of this, the South Sudanese people are crying as if the heavens have fallen.
The suffering of South Sudanese, although not always visibly apparent, is brutal. Man-made wars since 2013 have been eating away at the country. Endemic corruption and conflicts of interest have contributed significantly to this state of affairs. There has been very low local production of food crops due to insecurity. Hatred across the social divide has sprouted, and now the country as a whole—from urban to rural setups, with few exceptions—is suffering from a manufactured cash crisis that has gripped the nation like the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) siege of the Gaza Strip.
The salaries of civil servants and other salaried workers have remained unpaid for more than a year, and the order to pay them regularly and in a timely manner has plummeted. Markets are now operating in a state of limbo. There is no liquidity. The country is theoretically unable to pay its debts, both internally and externally; this is the shortest and most comprehensive definition of bankruptcy.
This fact is also clear: while the economy is vibrant on paper, it is paralyzed in reality. There is no cash, and even if salaries were paid through bank transfers and other electronic mechanisms, that is only virtual money with no legal tender. Citizens have no purchasing power, or it has been reduced to a negligible point. This can be plainly described as the suffocation of families.
With my uncensored and unsolicited analysis, I can fearlessly infer that this situation is not an accident. It is a deliberate act of sabotage. Situations of this kind have happened in other countries, even in Sudan, where political actors meticulously crafted successful plans—such as purchasing huge quantities of sugar and flour and drowning them in the River Nile, or hiding vast sums of cash in homes or burying them underground—to undermine governments.
This is the deprivation of consumers, who in turn blame the government and express possible wrath in the form of unrest, such as popular uprisings or other means of dissent. This hypothesis could hold true for South Sudan. There could be political actors who have done the same in the Republic of South Sudan, burying South Sudanese pounds under their beds and creating a cash shortage as a way of undermining the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, with the intention of inciting further national discontent.
It goes without saying that since the establishment of the Revitalized Government of National Unity, brought about by the R-ARCSS, the country has been descending into a perilous experiment. The agreement, which was brokered to ensure the return of national stability, has in fact been a poisoned gift that brought together bad-faith actors into the center of power, and they are now effectively holding the economy hostage. Any government formed out of an agreement never works sincerely or harmoniously. The actors usually serve their hidden agendas, and the public shoulders the brunt.
The case of South Sudan is even more despicable. The cluster system established through the agreement—comprising governance, economics, service delivery, infrastructure, gender, and youth—has failed to deliver the intended synergy. Instead, it has fostered dysfunctionality. This can be justified by the fact that ministries that once operated with clear mandates have now been reduced to mere waiting rooms.
Institutions such as the Ministry of Finance and Planning, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Petroleum, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, and Fisheries, the Central Bank, and the Revenue Authority are no longer authorized to act independently. They have been clustered and served with duplicated leaders who are either insincere or crippled by international sanctions. Now, any significant decision, regardless of its urgency, must be approved by a cluster head—typically through a simple phone call, often lacking transparency or a sense of urgency. The outcome of this duplication is stagnation. The economy cannot function without someone else’s permission. Responsibility has become obscured by layers of artificial authority, and as alleged, some of these cluster heads can divert entire national revenues, even from the source—such as crude oil sales or non-oil revenue collections like taxes.
When I think deeply, I ask myself several questions, including: Why are citizens expressing distress if these clusters were intended to promote national unity? Why is it so difficult to access funds from banks when no natural disaster has devastated the South Sudanese pound? Why are teachers and civil servants leaving empty-handed every month while those with political connections deplete state resources?
The answers to these questions suggest that there is a quiet war being waged from within. It is possible that certain political actors—with powerful allies both inside and outside the government—are hoarding cash, freezing institutional operations, and draining the formal economy. Their goal could be to erode public trust in the president and the state while creating the illusion of total collapse.
These saboteurs are succeeding in their schemes; they have manipulated liquidity, flooded the black market, and destabilized the pound by promoting reliance on foreign currencies. Inside Juba, some restaurants and hotels charge for their services in dollars. This is the work of those orchestrating chaos in boardrooms and government offices—not actors on the battlefield.
The masterminds of these malicious plans hide behind their titles and suits. They use gestures and concealed communication to suggest to citizens that the government has failed. In essence, they are the ones who have strangled the system. They are the ones paralyzing budget execution, delaying salary payments, obstructing service delivery, and manipulating inflation for political gain. They are thriving and making fortunes off the suffering of innocent citizens. In their minds, there is only one objective: regime change through economic hardship directed at the people.
Objectively speaking, one can recommend that this dire situation must not be allowed to persist because South Sudanese deserve better.
As a nation, we must accept President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s assertion that those he entrusted with responsibility are the ones failing him—and the list is long. We must also understand that our suffering is not merely the result of poor leadership but of a longstanding and well-coordinated perfidy.
Despite the schemers’ work, President Salva Kiir still possesses the authority and mandate to address this decay. He can, without difficulty, reverse some of his decisions and set things right in the interest of national development.
Some of his appointments have gone against international norms, such as placing sanctioned individuals at the helm of power. People do not just get sanctioned; they first commit offenses that attract international condemnation—such as siphoning off billions of dollars through questionable contracts, falsely in the name of national development. If the money is found not to benefit citizens—as we have witnessed with the lack of payments to civil servants, including healthcare professionals, educators, and military personnel, because funds have been wired to private accounts—sanctions follow.
It is because of such individuals that international banks and monetary institutions have withdrawn support for South Sudan’s development. We may not fear American sanctions, but those who deal with us—such as international banks and monetary policy institutions—do fear violating their rules. We indirectly harm ourselves through unwise stubbornness.
For these reasons, I implore President Salva Kiir Mayardit to deprive the saboteurs of their grand goal by liberating the Central Bank of South Sudan and other institutions from political influence.
Economic institutions, if run by professionals with technical expertise—without interference from above, especially from cluster heads—can perform better.
It is also incumbent upon the president to identify those using their positions within the state to inflict suffering on innocent citizens. Once identified, they ought to be dismissed and held accountable.
The situation created by the unavailability of cash—superimposed on widespread insecurity, elite dissent, and the international community’s dissatisfaction with our state of affairs—is beyond a mere economic emergency; it poses a national security threat.
Many are already saying that the era of quiet diplomacy should end and that the saboteurs are not hidden from public view. They are easily identifiable, with specific addresses and offices, and their mission is one of betrayal—and therefore must be stopped.
The suffering of citizens is real. The instigators of this treachery are also real. Above all, the president is real and can end the suffering with a stroke of a pen. He should not remain silent, because if he does, the very concept of South Sudan could be further damaged—or even crumble.
Until then, yours truly, Mr. Teetotaler!
The writer, Dr. Sunday de John, holds MBA and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) from the University of Nairobi, Faculty of Business and Management Sciences and Faculty of Medicine respectively. He is the current Chairman of the South Sudan United Front-Progressive and can be reached via drsundayalong4@gmail.com
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the responsibility of the author, not Radio Tamazuj.