VP Wani Igga, Vice President for Economic Cluster -credit | Eye Radio | Emmanuel Akile | | Sept. 8, 2021

Vice President Dr. James Wani Igga on Friday called on civil servants to shun the corrupt practice of demanding bribery in order to do their jobs, warning that corruption is dragging the country backward.

Speaking at an awareness conference on the role of the Bank of South Sudan in Juba, Dr. Igga, the head of Economic Cluster, reiterated the need for quick operation of the national payment system.

“Promote efficient operation of the payment system because there are a lot of loopholes there, very big ones including ‘Kitu-kidogo'” said the Vice President.

‘Kitu-kidogo’ is a Kiswahili phrase meaning “something small” and referring to a polite way of asking for bribes in some East African countries.

South Sudan has been ranked as the second most corrupt country in the world along with Syria and Venezuela, according to Transparency International’s 2023 corruption index.

“Kitukidogo everywhere when it is his or her duty to do that, and what about the poor soldier who is going to the front carrying out his or her duty, will he ask for Kitukidogo? And why should you need Kitukidogo for the job you are already being paid for?”

The vice president said he believes a national payment system will enhance transparency in the country’s financial institutions.

“This (corruption) is what is taking us behind. Let us not look for where there is problem, the problems are created by us and must be solved by us. Otherwise, we are deceiving ourselves anyway.”

According to the latest ranking by Transparency International, South Sudan stood at 177th out of 180 countries after scoring 13, out of a scale of 100, while Somalia scored 11 and came last in the corruption ranking for the second year in a row.

South Sudan has remained in that position for the last two years, after beating Somalia as the most corrupt in 2021.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is the most widely used global corruption ranking in the world, and measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be, according to experts.