Hon. Benjamin Ayali Koyongwa, Undersecretary for Planning, Ministry of Finance and Planning. Address delivered during Day 2 of the 2025–2026 Budget Public Hearing at the National Parliament on Friday, February 13, 2026 - Credit: Koang Pal Chang/Eye Radio

JUBA, South Sudan (Eye Radio) – The Undersecretary for Planning at the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Hon. Benjamin Ayali Koyongwa, warns that a missing pension system is paralyzing South Sudan’s labor market and driving desperate young men into criminal gangs like “Toronto.”

Addressing the second day of the 2025–2026 Budget Public Hearing, on Friday, February 13, Hon. Koyongwa delivered a remarkably candid testimony, blending his official expertise with his perspective as a “father and responsible person.”

Hon. Koyongwa began by highlighting the high level of “young men involved in crime,” noting that “they have all sorts of groups, there is Toronto, there is whatever name it, and the majority of them are young people.”

He attributed this social breakdown to a lack of opportunity: “The reason, in my view… is because our learners are not all in classrooms. And secondly, it’s because once after school, they don’t have much to do.”

The Undersecretary placed the blame on a systemic mismatch, stating, “We are producing graduates who are job seekers, not producing graduates who are job creators.” He noted that the public sector and “the NGO world” remain limited, while the nation lacks a “sufficient manufacturing sector that will absorb so many of our graduates.”

The most striking portion of the Undersecretary’s address focused on the “pain” of a civil service that cannot afford to let its elders retire.

“We don’t have a pension, and we have elder person that are still working. They’re still on payroll,” he explained. “At times when I move around, I feel pain because an elderly person is supposed to rest responsibly. And because of the service they provide to us, we have to support them as the government. That is not happening.”

This lack of a social safety net creates a direct barrier for the next generation. Hon. Koyongwa clarified the consequence: “That means as long as the elderly people are still on our payroll, we cannot create sufficient job opportunities for the young ones to get into the job market, to employment with the government.”

Looking toward the future, the Undersecretary expressed personal anxiety regarding the current budget’s “tiny percentage of planned employment.”

“I’m worried because I’m getting old as well. I don’t want to continue working,” he admitted. “I will be efficient now, but at some point, I will not because I also have to retire. But the worry is there’s no pension.”

He concluded with a plea to honour those who have sustained the nation through its most difficult years. “We still have our elderly people, those who have worked; they really have delivered. That’s why they kept us, they kept this country, and we still find it today.”