South Sudanese activist calls for capital punishment against corrupt officials

JUBA – A South Sudanese Juba-based activist is calling for stiff punishment against corrupt public officials, including jail time and public shaming of politicians.

This came after President Salva Kiir accused former ministers of finance of being corrupt to the extent that they were not reporting to him government revenues during swearing-in ceremony of newly-appointed ministers of finance, and interior in Juba on Saturday.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning, Edmund Yakani Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) noted that corruption had badly damaged the core of the country’s national existence.

“Saying these officials are corrupt without taking any action is not the best way of doing things, you are giving criminal-minded people to take things easier and take things for granted. There should be impunity measures attached and we have heard these statements several times and we wish to see impunity following these statements,” Yakani said on Monday.

Yakani urged the political leadership of the country to act decisively in order to get out of this brink of disaster that has befallen the country.

“President Kiir has confirmed what people have been talking about it for so long and those statements should be issued with a respond and action on this particular issue,” he said.

The outspoken human rights defender urged the government of national unity to strengthen laws and the judiciary system in the country to bolster the fight against corruption.

“This thing can’t function when we don’t have independent anti-corruption commission and national general auditor and public account committee, finance, and civil allocation and monitoring. If these institutions are not operating independently in the country and the judiciary, we can’t deal with corruption and we need to have the political will to try corrupt people,” he stated.