The body of veteran South Sudanese politician Kosti Manibe Ngai arrived in Juba on Friday from Nairobi, where he died on Aug. 11 aged 78, prompting Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior to lament what she described as the deterioration of the country for which its liberation leaders fought.
Manibe, who held several senior government positions before and after South Sudan’s independence in 2011, became the country’s first finance minister after independence. His remains were taken to All Saints Cathedral after arriving at Juba International Airport, where mourners gathered for a requiem mass.
Nyandeng, a vice president responsible for youth and gender and the widow of late independence leader John Garang, used the funeral to deliver a pointed reflection on the country’s political trajectory.
Nyandeng was appointed vice president in 2020 under a power-sharing arrangement created by the 2018 peace agreement, representing the group of former detainees, a political faction that had been involved in the country’s peace process. The former detainees later rejoined the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), led by President Salva Kiir.
Her position gives her remarks particular weight as she remains part of the country’s top leadership while publicly expressing frustration over its political direction.
“We have inflicted to ourselves things that our enemies did not do to us,” Nyandeng said, lamenting what she described as the destruction of gains made by those who fought for independence.
“The liberators walk here on the streets of South Sudan with their heads down,” she said.
Nyandeng contrasted the current political environment with the period when Garang led the SPLM, saying senior figures around him, including Manibe, Deng Alor and Elijah Malok, had helped provide oversight.
“When Dr. John Garang was there, those of Deng Alor, Elijah Malok, those of Kosti Manibe, all those people were there, watching,” she said. “Who’s watching after President Salva Kiir now? Nobody.”
She also complained about difficulties in accessing Kiir, saying she could sometimes go as long as two years without seeing him.
Nyandeng said South Sudan, despite its political and economic difficulties, remains rich in natural resources and urged citizens not to lose hope.
“Your country is very rich. I wanted to tell you, don’t lose hope,” she said. “Put your hands together. Have hope. Keep hope alive.”
Her remarks came as Manibe’s remains were prepared for onward transportation to Lui, his home area in Western Equatoria State.
“The remains of Kosti is being taken to the small corner of South Sudan called Lui,” Nyandeng said. “It is just the body. But the spirit of this man is here, in South Sudan.”
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but has struggled with political instability, economic hardship and recurring armed violence. A peace agreement signed in 2018 was intended to end a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people, but its implementation has repeatedly been delayed and the country remains deeply divided.
Nyandeng ended her remarks with an appeal for hope, saying she believed relief would come “sooner than later.”
“God bless you, and God bless South Sudan,” she said.
and then