2025 should be a year of hope- of promises fulfilled
By Agar Mayor Gai-Makoon
The conviction that change is imminent is perpetual in the minds of South Sudanese. Most of us believe in the institutional transformation of government sectors. And it is in this very belief that every year, citizens in this country hope that all will be well one day. The government stands by this belief, too, though it is not in the art of works that the government should believe. Instead, the government gets things done. Belief is for those who have no direct role or resources to act.
Perhaps, the citizens whose rights and some duties are given to the higher power should be the ones to believe. Citizens ask and believe the government will act on its promises. The irony is that for us here in this country, the government asks too. This one alone indicates that our higher authority that we have entrusted with the role of protecting lives and property and building a prosperous and peaceful society, is as vulnerable as the citizenry who have given their power and rights to it. There is one important need that the government has struggled but failed to achieve that I will use to prove the vulnerability of our government.
Many speeches and statements have been made for the last ten years about peace and prosperity. Agreements have been signed, but it has been difficult to implement the protocols in those agreements. All the sweet talks, agreements, and statements of leaders being tired of the war, have only acted as breaks between wars in this country.
So, what have we been doing all along? This depends on whether you are the government or the citizen. For the citizenry, hope has kept them going. Lives and property have been lost, and tribal hatred and division have widened, but, the hope for a better South Sudan has not faded in the minds of many. And this is why this new year is very important for the citizens. They want to see what 2025 has for them—peace or it will just be an endurance of last year. On the other hand, the government, through a statement from the head of state, is going to embark on agriculture as the new engine for our economy.
This is a very important gesture, but because there is no focused plan for this initiative, it is very hard to convince the citizens about promoting and improving agriculture. As I said earlier, the government plans and executes. Perhaps, the head of state has to instruct the Ministry of Agriculture to form a committee that comprises agriculture specialists and policymakers to build the road map for how to get there, along with performance indicators to measure progress along the way. And because most committees are never successful as an American inventor and engineer, Charles Kettering clearly understood when he stated that if you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.
It is imperative for the president to be the overseer himself for this plan to work. Making this plan a success will be a New Year’s gift for this country. The government has to assume its exact role of getting things done, rather than many talks and making promises that do not get fulfilled.
On the contrary, there are things that the citizens have to be thankful for, in the past year. One of them is the health sector transformation project (HSTP) that is being run by the government as the key stakeholder and the partners. The project is a very important step in revolutionizing our health sector, and it communicates to the partners that South Sudan has benefited and learned from them over the years. Perhaps, it is now time to lead and manage our health sector while collaborating and working closely with the partners in areas of need such as health financing and research. The health sector transformation project gives a glimpse of hope to the South Sudanese amidst the current fragile health system. Thus, it has to make the required reforms in both patients’ care and the protection of health personnel.
The cholera outbreak and lack of incentives for the health personnel for more than five months are a few things that the HSTP has to deal with promptly. Rolled out on 1st July 2024, the people of South Sudan have placed their hope on the HSTP. It should maintain the services offered by HFP and other partners that met well with the people and make sure that areas of weakness for the previous projects are strengthened and made workable for the country.
This new year should restore the hope that was lost the previous year, by making sure the government gets to work, quits many talks, and starts making short-ranged shots, which can easily be implemented.
The writer has a background in socio-political philosophy. He currently studies medicine at Ain Shams University, Egypt. The insights shared above are his own. He can be reached at: +201129107334 and email: thieng.thiengwada@gmail.com.
