Dr. Albino Bol, the National Minister of Youth and Sports speaking during the launch of Youth Camp Activities in Juba - Credit | Lou Nelson/Eye Radio | April 25, 2022

The National Minister of Youth and Sports has criticized bride price inflation among most communities across the country.

Dr. Albino Bol Dhieu said the high dowry price amounts to human auctioning.

In many pastoralist communities in South Sudan, cows and goats are the traditional currency for paying bride prices.

Also known as the local economy, bride prices in many cultures range from 30 to hundreds of cattle.

A 2016-study by the Germany-based Development and Cooperation has found that high dowry price in South Sudan has resulted in detrimental consequences such as child marriage, forced marriage and cattle rustling.

The report noted that excessive bride price has become a burden on many families, with some men taking loans and others going on cattle rustling to marry the woman of their choice.

It also stated that poverty has made some parents desperate to collect the bride price and no longer be in charge of feeding their daughter.

The practice has also been viewed as one of the causes of gender-based violence as men look at women as their property.

Dr. Albino Bol, however, discouraged the practice and urges parents to reduce bride price.

Dr. Bol who cited the self-accomplished South Sudanese American athlete Athieng Mou, urges parents to stop ‘auctioning’ their daughters.

Speaking during the launch of Youth Camp Activities in Juba on Monday, he called for the financial empowerment of families in order to stop the practice.

“We have 45 million herds of cattle and instead of being a source of prosperity and happiness, now it has turned to be a curse. It is the reason our people are killing themselves, it is the reason now we are auctioning our ladies,” Minister Bol said.

“The majority of marriages being organized in South Sudan now is pure auctioning, delala in Arabic. Because once your daughter is getting married, you say my daughter amounts to 300 or 400 cows.

“Some other girls are married off for 500 cows and V8, it is an auction. Ladies are not for sale, are not commodities to be sold, so financial empowerment is important.”

According to UNICEF, more than 60 % of South Sudanese girls are married before they turn 18.

The UN’s Children Agency also says teenage girls are said to be three times more likely to die in child labor in the country than to complete primary education.

In 2018, a 17 years old girl from Lakes State was married off for over 500 cows and three V8s in a hot contest involving six suitors.

But women lawyers and activists have termed the practice dehumanizing and amounts to the commoditization of women.