Economic time bomb ticking: ex-lawmaker urges Kiir to step down

JUBA – A South Sudanese lawmaker who resigned yesterday from the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) has called on President Salva Kiir Mayardit to resign, citing the country’s worsening economic crisis and deteriorating living conditions.

Mabior Riiny Lual, who represent the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and South Sudan Patriotic Movement (SSPM) in the transitional parliament resigned to protest government corruption in which millions are being stolen while the citizens starve to death.

In a brief statement following his resignation, Mabior said President Kiir should resign, adding that the citizens are tired of his leadership.

“The best gift President Salva Kiir can offer South Sudanese this year is just for him to resign. The man is taking the country down with him,” Lual said in a statement. He emphasized that the South Sudanese people are “tired, scared, and suffering,” and urged President Kiir to step down to allow for new leadership to steer the nation in a better direction.

“Patriotism is when you tell the nation that you have tried your best and that it is the turn of a new leader to take over and steer the nation in the right direction. This is what Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania, did,” he said.

In his resignation letter addressed to Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi Akol yesterday, Lual criticized the government’s performance and described his decision to step down as a response to the failure of the opposition to effect change within the SPLM-led government.

“I asked you whether you still remember what we fought for and why we signed the agreement with the government,” he wrote, lamenting the lack of progress in addressing the country’s challenges, including widespread illiteracy, inadequate healthcare, and persistent poverty.

Lual expressed his disillusionment with the government’s priorities, accusing political leaders of enriching themselves at the expense of the people they are meant to serve.

“We cannot continue to call ourselves leaders when the very people we serve are dying and leaders are illegitimately getting rich at their expense,” he stated. Lual’s resignation, he said, is meant to signal his independence of thought and his unwillingness to participate in a government that he now sees as a “mockery and a scam.”

Lual also voiced his disappointment with the opposition, which he had hoped would challenge the ruling SPLM and advocate for the people.

“I had sincerely believed that the opposition was going to change the political trajectory of our country… This has turned out not to be the case,” he added. Concluding his letter, Lual noted that he would continue to serve South Sudan in other capacities as a private citizen, rather than as a “phony member of parliament with no voice.”