Adwok Nyaba says regime change only solution to South Sudan economic crisis

NAIROBI – Former South Sudan minister of higher education an ex-senior member of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Peter Adwok Nyaba has blamed the current economic crisis on what he calls “SPLM-led totalitarian regime” and suggested that regime change in South Sudan would be the only solution to rescue the economy.

Nyaba said those said to be keeping money in their houses are corrupt business people paid illegally by the government on unfulfilled projects and not the suffering people of South Sudan who he said have not been paid by the government in months.

“Those hoarding the money, if that is true, are not the ordinary South Sudanese working people, many of whom have not been paid for months, but the parasitic capitalist who have been given overdrafts in terms of hundreds of billions of SSP for doing virtually nothing by the Ministry of Finance and Planning through the Central Bank of South Sudan,” Adwok wrote on Facebook.

“It is this phenomenon of issuing overdrafts that has skyrocketed the exchange rate to SSP700 to a dollar,” added the former senior SPLM member.

He said South Sudan’s current economic reality will only improve unless the regime in Juba is removed citing failures to implement the revitalized peace agreement which may enable for return of IDPs and refugees.

“The solution to South Sudan’s acute economic crisis is political; it requires a radical change in the SPLM-led totalitarian system, restoring peace and social harmony that will enable the refugees and the internally displaced persons, some of them holed up for seven years in the UNMISS Protection of Civilian centres in Juba, Wau, Bor, Bentiu and Malakal, to go back to their homes and produce for themselves,” he added.

Nyaba’s comment came at a critical time in South Sudan’s economy. This morning, traders in Juba told Sudans Post that the South Sudanese Pound has depreciated further, recording its lowest rate of SSP 830 per $1.

South Sudan is facing a devastating economic downtrend as result of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, corruption and the global downfall of oil prices.

Last week, as the Pound depreciates, the government announced that it would introduce a new currency soon, a move which has been criticized by some economic experts in the country who only see fighting corruption and end of war as direct solutions to the situation.