South Sudan’s Cabinet Minister Martin Elia Lomuro on Thursday decried bad governance, corruption and lack of accountability in public institutions in the country.

Speaking during a consultative symposium on good governance and democracy organized by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs today, Lomuro admitted that South Sudan is currently in bad governance due to rampant corruption and nepotism.

He emphasized the need to practice democratic governance to make sure all government institutions are functioning according to rules and processes.

The official blamed all sorts of malpractices in the government on what he termed “the challenge of infancy” in the country, saying some ministries in South Sudan were departments in Sudan before independence in 2011.

Lomuro called on the South Sudanese leaders to make changes by providing services to citizens and encourage equal participation of all political parties in the democratic process.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 agreement that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.

 In December 2013, South Sudan was plunged into conflict as rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his then vice president, Riek Machar, turned into a civil war.