By Yiep Joseph<\/p>\n
A civil society activist has urged President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar to publicly apologize to the citizens for the hardships experienced throughout 2024.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In an exclusive interview, the Executive Director of the Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), Ter Manayang, emphasized that both the government as a whole and its leaders specifically should take responsibility for the suffering inflicted on the population during the year..<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be beneficial for President Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar, and their government to apologize for the distress they have caused, including the mental health challenges that have led to a traumatized society,\u201d Ter stated. Civil servants have gone for a year without receiving their salaries.<\/p>\n While Ter acknowledged the importance of leaders gathering for events, he encouraged them to focus on building trust and working to improve the lives of citizens in preparation for 2025.<\/p>\n Ter expressed concern regarding the Christmas dinner held at the presidential palace, where President Kiir invited top government officials, including Dr. Machar.<\/p>\n According to a statement from the President\u2019s office on Facebook, the officials who attended on December 26 expressed their commitment to working with the President to provide services to the public.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a warm and festive gathering, President Salva Kiir Mayardit hosted senior government officials at his official residence in a Christmas celebration. The officials extended heartfelt Christmas wishes to President Kiir, expressing their commitment to working together to deliver services to the people,\u201d the statement partly read.<\/p>\n Activist Ter claimed that the dinner could have served as an opportunity for the government to apologize to its citizens for the suffering inflicted throughout 2024.<\/p>\n He emphasized that calling for forgiveness is essential and should be practical so that the entire country can start the new year in a positive spirit.<\/p>\n The activist expressed concern that the government has remained lax in implementing the peace agreement, particularly regarding the unification of forces, while time continues to pass.<\/p>\n He criticized the government for neglecting to focus on service delivery to the citizens.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) does not serve the interests of South Sudanese citizens; instead, they are working for their own benefit. We are deeply concerned about the extreme poverty that has been created by the very leaders whom Kiir urged to serve the people,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n In a Christmas message on December 24, 2024, President Salva Kiir called on families to embrace the spirit of peace, kindness, and forgiveness despite the ongoing economic challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cThese words are as powerful today as they were two thousand years ago. They remind us that Christmas is not just about celebration but also about embracing the true spirit of peace and forgiveness despite the challenges we have faced this year,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n He called on citizens embrace peace, forgiveness, and unity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Yiep Joseph A civil society activist has urged President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar to publicly apologize to the citizens for the hardships experienced throughout 2024. In an exclusive interview, the Executive Director of the Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), Ter Manayang, emphasized that[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":32058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Dr.-Riek-Machar-First-Vice-President-Right-President-Salva-Kiir-exchanging-greetings-chats-at-the-Presidential-palace-during-Christmas-dinner-organized-by-the-office-of-the-president.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32059,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32057\/revisions\/32059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHe highlighted that ongoing political corruption and dysfunction have resulted in government workers going an entire year without salaries, contributing to an economic crisis and delaying elections, which has further exacerbated the suffering of citizens.<\/p>\n