Kuol Manyang warns youth against nepotism

The former Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs, Kuol Manyang, who is currently the Senior Presidential Advisor has warned the youth against nepotism and tribalism and urged them to cooperate and promote peaceful co-existence in the country.

Manyang made the plea during the inauguration ceremony of Jalle Community youth leadership held at Gumbo Basic Primary School on Sunday.

“We are people of South Sudan because the world is changing. You came from your villages to the city, your children will not return; they will live here. They are now South Sudanese and we need peace in South Sudan; we should stop division,” Kuol said.

“If you are a scientist or a medical doctor, do what will make sense to people around you? Nepotism is bad, we might be geographically located in various places but we are one people.”

Kuol said that those involved in tribalism are not educated and called on the youth in South Sudan to refrain from such practices. He called on the youths to study and run businesses for their livelihoods and shun crimes.

“The worst part of education is that we have our people with PhDs, Master’s Degrees, Bachelor’s Degrees and Diplomas, but what confuses me, is when I hear them involved in nepotism. Is that what you studied?” he interrogated.

He further called on all the parents to educate their children for their stable future success.

“We are corrupt”

The presidential advisor recently surprised the nation when he said that most of the leaders have become corrupt due to insecurity and the economic drain in the country.

He said this during the thanksgiving ceremony of the Governor of Lakes State Rin Tueny Mabor where the latter was celebrated for restoring peace in Lakes State.

“On our side, we are also corrupt in our government because of the insecurity in the countryside, and, go to homes of our Members of Parliament and Ministers they [are also] corrupt because they get money so that they feed their people,” Kuol said.

“They make the contracts so [that] they can get money because of the pressure and insecurity in the countryside. We are not able to feed our people and the people cannot be able to save their property. We became politically independent but economic independence is not there,” he added.

Dependent on truce

Kuol said that peace should begin at an individual level as the viable solution to all the challenges the country is in.

“Peace is not the work of only one person. It [must] be done by all of us. Bring peace back because peace has gone away from us and peace does not come by itself,” he said.

He warned that if strong laws are not enacted, it would result in the country falling away from the intended path.

 “Now we have the constitution and it has addressed all these: how we develop the country from the resources we have. If there is no peace there are no lives. Peace and life go together and if there is no law what do you expect?” he said.

He noted that some soldiers and police officers had turned to misuse their weapons for criminal acts in order to feed their families.