Bishop in South Sudan Urges Government to Implement Policies “to end youth unemployment”

In his April 28 address to those who were graduating from St. Vincent De Paul Vocational and Community Development Center in Juba, Bishop Loku urged Salva Kiir-led government to prioritize South Sudanese whenever there are job opportunities.

“You will find that the jobs that we are able to do are given to the foreign nationals,” the South Sudanese Catholic Bishop lamented, and appealed, “Chances should be given for the nationals who are trained if there are projects for work; the first things should be given to the citizens.”

He went on to caution against laziness among young people in the East-Central African nation saying, “We as a Church and myself as a Bishop are not happy to see young people in the areas sitting under the trees when there are many jobs to be done.”

Also speaking at the graduation event, the South Sudanese Minister of Labor, James Hoth Mai, said the government has a policy of empowering the youth through training.

He said, “This is the program of the government and the President of South Sudan who gave orders for us as the ministry to train young people to work and build the nation and to expose South Sudan to the outside world.”

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The training offered by government, the Minister said addressing himself to the youth, “is for you to open your business. You should not go and stay with the knowledge you gain at home.”

Patrick Juma Wani is a South Sudanese journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. Patrick holds a Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from Makerere Institute for Social Development (MISD) in Uganda. He has over 7 years of extensive experience in leading the development and implementation of media, advocacy, communication and multimedia strategy and operations, with an excellent track record of editorial leadership, budget management, and stakeholder outreach. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.