Rich, poor gap widens as class of few wealthy people emerges

Senior writer PATRICK MATHANGANI, traversed Juba and witnessed contrasting lives of the rich and the poor. He tells how life in the fast developing capital treats a growing population of the two classesIn an expansive public cemetery in Juba town, a cluster of tumbledown huts stand hurdled beside gravestones hidden by bush and grass.Pita Adoki crouched from one of the huts, brushing aside a dirtied piece of cloth serving as a door. Flies swarmed around her."This cemetery is my ancestral land," said Adoki, who grabbed a stool to sit in the shade. "They took it from us and said they’ll be burying the dead here. I’m not leaving… I have nowhere else to go."A single mother, she lives here with her five children. None goes to school. About ten other families living at the cemetery lack sanitation, water, electricity and other amenities."We draw our water from the river," she said. The River Nile, about 400m from the graveyard, is heavily polluted, and her family does not treat the water it uses for drinking and cooking.Her hut, a patchwork of old sacks, plastic sheeting and cardboard, can barely keep her and the children from harsh weather conditions. Next to the huts, state-of-the-art vehicles drive by, heading for classy hotels built on the banks of the river. The hotels are popular with expatriates and a new breed of trendy, wealthy southerners.The sharp contrast of affluence symbolises the wedge between the rich and the poor in South Sudan, which is set to become the world’s newest nation, whose independence celebrations are scheduled on July 9.Rising populationJuba residents say surging costs of living have made life miserable and unbearable in the nascent city, and other towns sprawling in the country. South Sudan is rated among the world’s poorest nations. High costs of basic commodities and housing have exacerbated the plight of residents.Near one of the posh hotels, a Kenyan who recently built one-room rental houses said he charges up to $300 (Sh25,000) per room per month. Tenants have to contend with water shortages, shared toilets and bathrooms. Space to set up businesses costs even higher.Like Adoki, poor citizens can barely afford food or decent housing. The city is growing fast, but high demand means investors can hardly cope with the rising population.Juba has witnessed rapid growth since the North and South swept aside differences and signed a peace agreement in 2005. The handshake ended a 21-year-long war that had killed modernity in the entire South, and forced citizens to live in dehumanising poverty.In a report published in November last year, the Overseas Development Institute said there is growing uncertainty about the future, especially among IDPs and returnees.Rapid expansion in Juba has increased the number of poor people in the city. The United Nations estimates that over two million refugees have returned to the country since the end of the war, alongside 200,000 refugees who mainly settled in Juba.Closed the border"Expectations of a better life have not been realised. Large numbers of Juba’s residents live in overcrowded conditions. They lack access to essential services, employment and are vulnerable to repeated displacement due to a lack of secure land tenure," said the institute, a British independent think-tank. It added: "The urban poor are also disproportionately affected by insecurity, high levels of gun ownership and the absence of effective civilian rule mechanisms." Newton Kilonzo, a Kenyan operating a kiosk-sized hotel in the town, said although business is good since competition is low, the cost of living is pulling ordinary people down.He said a kilo of tomatoes costs up to eight Sudanese Pounds (Sh240). A kilo of meat costs 26 Sudanese Pounds (Sh780). It is hard to find some fresh produce in supermarkets, such as fresh milk. Water is even more expensive, said Kilonzo."You have to work very hard to survive," he said.Residents said the differences between the South and North was also affecting prices of commodities, especially those brought from the North. President Omar al-Bashir government’s has closed the border with the South.This means commodities cannot not reach the South, thus prices have soared in recent weeks. People living in Juba are feeling the pinch of searching for fuel for their cars, yet oil imported from the North is drawn from oil wells in the South.

Rich, poor gap widens as class of few wealthy people emerges

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