Revive the factories in South Sudan to produce goods, avail job opportunities, reduce prices

Recently the minister of commerce and industry said his office would revive 7 factories which ceased functioning some during the first civil war of 1955-72 and others during the SPLA led war in the period 1983-2005. It was good news for the people of South Sudan because the revival of these factories and probably establishing of others will produce a number of good results. There will be plenty of goods which will be produced by these factories and their will be reasonable for the people of South Sudan to buy. When the factories are working the people too will be working because there will be a lot of job opportunities to them. The production of goods by the factories will also reduce the dependency of South Sudanese on products especially food items and others from the neighbouring countries of East Africa and eventually remove this dependency and make South Sudan self-reliant and an exporter of items it used to import. Among the factories named to be revived are Nzara agro-industry, Wau fruit canning factory, Wau brewery, Mangalla sugar and agro-industrial complex and Melut sugar scheme. That means South Sudan will be self-sufficient in such products as are currently imported from the neighbouring East African countries and other nations. Sugar is at the moment imported but we can produce enough of it from our rich soil and other conducive conditions for the growth of sugar cane. Milk can be abundant in fresh, skimmed and dry forms and yet today we import all forms of milk from other countries. Cement can be produced in Kapoeta, in Eastern Equatoria but today the construction projects such as public and private buildings are procured with cement imported from the neighbouring countries. The cessation of functions by the named factories can be attributed to adverse economic policies deliberately imposed on South Sudan by Arab rulers of the former Sudan. The adage was “why allow them to develop their capacities of producing food crops? Who will buy the products of Al Gezira scheme and other productive agricultural areas of central Sudan?” The Arab government policy makers used to say amongst themselves in their malicious programmes to keep South Sudanese to live in what economists say “from hand to mouth” situation and yet South Sudan is a land of abundance. During the different Arab regimes in Khartoum they had even prevented Nzara factory the only industrial enterprise producing soap to cease doing so such that the whole of South Sudan should depend on soap produced in several factories in the north like the Elephants brand soap which used to be brought to South Sudan by government sponsored Arab traders. The proposal to revive the factories should be a practical matter which should be implemented at once. South Sudanese need the products that these factories can turn over so that there is plenty of them to go round. We need these factories so that they can train our workers for similar factories to be established in other parts of South Sudan to boost the quantities of the products got from them. We need these factories revived quickly so that our pastoralists can sell their milk to them and earn some income for betterment of their living conditions. The revival of the factories will mean improved developmental undertaking in our country. We have seen our mango fruits getting wasted every season due to lack of a fruit canning factory. That is why the factory in Wau should be opened as quickly as possible.