Holding our National Government to Account
BY: Joana Adams, RSS
OCT. 3/2011, SSN; During the inauguration of his new cabinet nearly 2
months after the independence of South Sudan, the president of the RSS
Salva Kiir Mayardit announced his government's commitment to provide
effective services for the people of South Sudan within 100 days from
its formation. Kiir identified education, health, accountability and
zero tolerance for corruption, rule of law and security as well as
improving physical infrastructure as some of the key sectors he will
address in the post-independence era.
Whereas as electorates we welcome the announcement of these
priorities, given Kiir's appalling tract record in service delivery,
the public is warned not to get over excited. Making announcements is
one thing and delivering on those pledges is quite another. It is the
responsibility of the citizens to hold Kiir's government accountable,
should they default on their promises starting from the date of
independence not 100 days from the appointment of ministers, as his
minister of information is pleading. This government must start
delivering services immediately because they have wasted the whole
year since the referendum in January and have failed to come up with
credible programmes. Outgoing ministers have been sitting in their
offices doing virtually nothing, while parliamentarians were despatch
for long recesses.
The South Sudanese people have been too patient with president Kiir
since his accidental ascendency to power after the tragic death of his
predecessor John Garang and we should stop propping him up in case he
is not up to the job. Now that we are an independent country, he has
to account not only for every pound the government spends but for
unnecessary wastage of public time, because time is money. If the
president and his troops are given up to November before commencing
service delivery, what happens to the unspent budget from January to
November ? These guys are not in the habit of returning unspent funds
to the treasury.
Prior to his departure to the United Nations to attend his first
General Assembly meeting, in a move designed for international
consumption, president Kiir, ordered the national parliament to
legislate anti corruption laws so that suspects can be investigated,
but limits parliamentary powers to investigate to post independence
corruption only. This is totally unacceptable. One can almost state
with certainty that there were no millionaires in RSS before the CPA
in 2005, except possibly John Garang and his wife who effectively
pocketed what may be termed “blood money” during the war. Yet most of
the recycled ministers now sitting in his cabinet are millionaires
because they looted public money during the interim period and must
logically be forced to disclose their assets from 2005. Otherwise
this recent call for investigating the pre-independence dura scandal
is just a smoke screen. If the president is using self apportioned
state powers to obstruct parliamentary investigations and protect his
cronies then, there is only one solution to this problem: the public
must hold president Kiir personally accountable.
The other worrying thing which is emerging is the inability of the
government to develop a comprehensive national 4-5 Year Development
plan encompassing programmes of both central and state governments.
This is to avoid duplication of functions, and double costing of
projects between levels of governments. Over the last 6 years similar
uncoordinated and unplanned priorities have been fruitless.
Corruption has soared through the roof and insecurity in some parts of
our country are now worst than in 2005. For a country being
established in the 21st century, we expect observation of high
national standards in all areas of our national endeavours which
unfortunately is not happening.
It is needless to say that the national parliament in particular
should get its acts together and stop waiting for instructions from
the president. The parliament should be a self-regulating institution
which should know its functions and when and how to perform them.
Ministries, commissions and other agencies need mandatory regulations
to effectively and efficiently execute their roles and duties. It is
now time for parliament to wake up and accelerate processing of
pending bills into laws before the end of the year even if they have
to work overtime to compensate for the money they have been paid for
doing nothing.
>From now onwards any interference by the president to obstruct or
manipulate parliamentary proceedings, including sending them for
unscheduled recesses, should be interpreted as sabotage to our
national interest. Similarly, parliament should know that they are
accountable to the electorates who elected them and not to the
executive or the president himself. It is parliament that monitors
activities of the executive and hold ministers to account and not the
other way round. Without parliamentary Acts it is nonsensical to talk
of service delivery.
What is further worrying is the apparent lack of involvement of state
governments in the president's drive to provide services to the
people. He has singled out ministers in the national government and
totally ignores state governments. Where does that leave state
governments with respect to service delivery? If citizens are not
getting adequate health services or there is lack of safe drinking
water in our towns and villages, whom do we hold responsible? State
ministers of infrastructures, the national minister of water and
irrigation or the president himself? President Kiir runs the
government as a feudal lord, dishing out assignments pretty much like
what his predecessor John Garang used to do in the bush. These
periodic assignments are like weekly assignments - parents give to
children and when completed, the children will fold their hands and
wait for further instructions. This is an ignominious way of running
a modern government which should have robust, propulsive mechanisms
and systems in place.
Transparency
Not every citizen can read, write or comprehend difficult legal
documents like the transitional constitution or Acts of parliament,
unless simplified, interpreted or translated for them. Although the
minister of information Dr. Barnaba Marial is busy urging other
ministers to fulfil the president's commitment for service delivery,
he is forgetting his own responsibility to simplify complex government
documents and make them accessible to the general public. This is a
dimension of good governance that promotes transparency.
In conjunction with state ministries of information he should explain
to the general public in clear simple language how much of our
national budget is allocated to the different organs of the central
government and what percentage is allocated to the 10 states. These
and other vital documents should not idly sit in government offices
but be made available in public domains to promote informed debates
among the citizens. The minister should not just be paid for being a
government spokesman but to ensure that the public has vital, accurate
and timely information on government mechanisms and systems.
Indoctrinating the public on SPLM ideology and lies should not be his
job but that of the SPLM spokesman.
In a brief interview after being sworn into office, the former
minister of Interior now of roads and bridges, emphasized the
importance of his ministry by reciting that roads are important
because “you need roads for education, health and agriculture”. Quite
right, but it would be desirable to see how he proposes to engage
colleagues in the infrastructure sector to utilise their knowledge to
ensure planned and coordinated development of infrastructure through
out South Sudan. Otherwise the public can assume that this guy who
seems to have eyes for big money is just there to cash in on lucrative
contracts to add to his expanding business portfolios.
In the same interview, the minister of gender, child and social
welfare thanked the president for re-appointing her in the same place
but does not seem to have a complete mental picture of her role visa
vis state ministries of gender, for she said: she will continue to
implement some of the projects she had already initiated such as the
project for the blind in Rejaf. If the national ministry implements
projects, what will the state ministries do? Assuming that she hasn’t
already done so, she should prioritise commissioning baseline studies
to attain vital statistics about social issues; gender related
issues; issues affecting welfare of children; the aged, and other
vulnerable people such as the deaf and the blind, to build a more
comprehensive picture of the requirement of her ministry. This will
enable her to develop effective national policies, programmes and
procedures, with clear separation of goals between what should be
achieved at the national level and what should be delegated to state
ministries.
Furthermore gender is a cross-cutting theme hence she should
prioritise the issue of equitable representation in all institutions
of government at all levels. In collaboration with the ministry of
education, she could monitor school enrolments; analyse primary
leaving and secondary leaving exams results to identify gender
discrepancies; and in partnership with other stake holders, develop
strategies to close the gender gaps. This will ensure that a
bottom-up approach to dis mantle gender inequality in our society is
in place to gradually replace the current affirmative government
action. Her task should be relatively easier since her predecessor
had pushed for and achieved legislation of the Gender, Child and
Welfare Act 2008/2009.
No Manifesto beyond election pledges
In modern democratic governments, parties like the SPLM ascend to
power, through rigorous election processes which include selling
election manifestos to electorates, to choose who should govern them.
The last general election in April 2010 apart from being rigged by
the SPLM, had no credible opposition. Because voters were more
interested in voting for independence, than in free and fair
elections, there was no demand for election manifestos beyond pledges
for independence. Hence if the SPLM government was an honest
government, it would dissolve itself and call for a fresh general
elections to give chance for electing a legitimate government to take
the country forward.
The is significant because the SPLM had no credible election manifesto
with clear vision, programmes and strategies to justify Salva's hold
on power for the next 4 years. This is why he is still talking of
priorities instead of presenting the nation with a comprehensive
national development strategy to guide development of specific action
plans. In the absence of this, individual ministers will have to use
their own industriousness to development their own strategies, as some
of them are already doing, to their credit. It is pretty clear that
the national ministry of finance has been acting as paymasters with
total neglect of the their planning and budgetary responsibilities.
That's why 6 years down the line, we still have a government that runs
around like a headless chicken.
Relocation of the capital city to Ramciel
On July, 9th 2011, our Transitional Constitution which stated that
Juba would be the capital city of the new Republic was signed into law
by the incumbent president. Just about 60 days later, the same
president declares the relocation of the capital city to Ramciel in
Lakes state. Obviously, there have been mixed reactions to this
announcement but it seems the majority of Southerners support the
move. I believe that ultimately, the benefits of moving the capital
city to Ramciel will outweigh its disadvantages, apart from its
central location. But the real issue is not whether the capital
should be moved or not but the manner in which such a big national
project is being causally handled with apparent lack of seriousness
and planning.
Was the project actually included in the 2011/2012 budget or will it
be funded under a supplementary budget which will conveniently
disappear in fake contracts? It is important that government
activities are planned and cost-effectively delivered on time. And
this should be weighed against other competing national priorities.
The significance for projects to conform to the acronym: SMART/ER
(specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-bound, evaluated
and reviewed), cannot be overstated to avoid repetition of fiasco's
such as the Juba road scandal. It is to be remembered that it took
the government more than 4 years to complete less than 4 miles of
tract from the airport to the university of Juba junction!
This project which was initiated by the first minister of roads and
transport former first lady Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior totally
stagnated under the second minister of roads and transport David Deng
Athorbei, who was surprisingly promoted to become the third minister
of finance and economic planning. It was the third minister of roads
and transport, Anthony Lino Makana who completed the road in time for
the independence celebrations thus saving the government from total
embarrassment. But no one talks about how much millions of dollars
this road drained in fake contracts. Will any corruption suspects be
brought to justice? If not why not?
In traditional African villages, a person will get by daily without
ever planning where to sleep or to have their next meal. This is
still a common cultural practice all over the South, where you wont be
turned away if you drop by at meal times or require a sleeping mat.
During the long intermittent civil wars spanning nearly 50 years in
total, it didn't make sense to plan in advance for basic needs such as
shelter or food when you couldn't guarantee being alive the next day
or month, let alone the whole year. This attitude of living without
advance planning, coupled with the visible wastages of putting our
money where our mouth lies, makes planning one of our biggest
weaknesses. This unfortunate habit must be dropped if we are to
establish successful, sustainable nation in a progressively modern and
complex economic environment.
The pains of kokora
Juba would have been the most pragmatic choice as the capital city of
south Sudan, had it not been for the painful unhealed wounds of
“kokora” the administrative division of South Sudan into the former
provinces of Bahar el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Equatoria in the early
80's. Non Equatorians blame Equatorians for this act forgetting that
Equatorians had to react to an unpleasant political development which
was designed by quartet; Abel Alier, Bona Malwal Ambrose Ring and
Justin Yac to justify permanent Dinka rule in Southern Sudan. Bona
Malwal reacting to the election failure of Abel Alier in 1978, called
for Dinka unity to dismantle the legitimately elected popular
“government of the wind of change” led by Gen. Joseph Lagu. To prove
their resolve, Abel and cohorts with the help of president Jafaar
Numeiry toppled Lagu's government within 18 months of a 4 years term
of office. Some of these dinkocratic policies included transfer of
Equatorian graduates to work in the two regions of Upper Nile and
Bahar el Ghazal, while similar graduates from the two regions were
brought to work in Juba or Equatoria.
In Juba itself, Equatorian graduates were systematically discriminated
in employment, promotions, post graduate scholarship allocations, and
housing. Most Equatorian graduates had to be self accommodated in
substandard private houses in Malakia or Kator residential areas,
whereas their colleagues from the other two regions were comfortably
accommodated in government houses. This list of dinkocratic policies
is not exhaustive but serves to highlight the mood for kokora which
came to pass. These policies were taken to the streets where
Equatorian women were assaulted in broad day light in market places by
lawless Dinka meat traders. The latter could never be brought to
justice as they were promptly protected by their kinsman - the chief
of police Ruben Mac - who was Abel's right hand man during his iron
fisted rule in Juba (1972-1978). For the Bari and other Equatorians
the recent reality of land grabbing and constant violence against
peaceful civilians in Juba is therefore a stark reminder of the ghost
of kokora.
The 21 years of civil war against the northern oppressor have not
healed the wounds of kokora, on both sides. That was why the war was
brought from Bor, where it was conceived under the patronage of Abel
Alier, to Equatoria instead of taking the battle to Khartoum, the seat
of the oppressor's government. Because Juba is associated with
kokora, some leading SPLM personalities maintained that Juba should
not be developed as the capital city otherwise once developed,
Equatorians will revive kokora and ask the others to leave. The
current rulers in Juba have no remorse about milking the cow without
feeding it. This is harmful not just to Equatorians but to the nation
as a whole. South Sudan deserves a modern futuristic capital city to
mark our independence as an oil producing nation, which will be a
legacy for future generations.
There should be no bitterness about moving the capital out of Juba.
Juba and indeed Equatoria will continue to be a home to all
southerners as long as they abide by the rules and values of the host
community. What will not be tolerated is mass movement of communities
designed to displace indigenous populations to cause social imbalance.
The explanation given by Jacob Lupai in www.southsudannation.com on
Sept. 20/2011, clearly exonerates the government and people of central
Equatoria. There are people who are used to blaming the jallaba and
do not want to take responsibilities for their actions. Equatoria
cannot and will not be blamed for relocation of the capital to
Ramciel. This responsibility squarely lies with the central
government for its refusal to share the city with the host state,
insisting that the latter moves to Yei.
This would have created a state within a state like in apartheid South
Africa, where indigenous people would have been outlawed. And if
Equatorians are not wanted in Ramciel, then the feelings are mutual.
Equatorians are proud of their land. You can be sure that only
central government employees will move to Ramciel, plus professionals
such as engineers, lawyers, accountants, nurses, teachers and some
labourers. This happens all over the world. But the majority of
Equatorians will remain home to build Equatoria through agriculture,
education, trade, commerce and industry or whatever sector state
governments can facilitate if they are not strangulated from the top.
National healing and reconciliation
Recently, the government has declared 1820 as the official beginning
of the struggle for independence. What is the significance of
increasing the years of our struggle, when we cannot take advantage of
the present. This mentality that everything big is better should be
abandoned. It is good to reflect, claim and own our history but when
thinking backwards become the defining characteristics of our
government then we are in deep trouble. We need a government that
has clarity of vision and can think strategically. This government
has failed to acknowledge and address the profound social impact of
the protracted struggle. Whether it lasted for 21 years, 50 years or
190 years is immaterial. What is material is to ensure that the
people get the peace dividends they were promised in terms of concrete
social services, peace, security and equitable creation of economic
opportunities. Desperate mothers cannot put 190 years of history as
food on plates for their starving children.
Again the relocation of the city to Ramciel, sheds light on the
unhealed wounds that we are all carrying around in our bodies and
minds. It's our duty to consciously remember that during these long
years of struggle, communities fought and committed atrocities against
each other. Some of the wounds inflicted during the recent war
(1983-2004) are still fresh. In recent years and months, intra-tribal
violence have become endemic in some communities, with the use of ever
sophisticated weapons instead of the traditional arrows and spears,
which begs the question whether or not some of these violence are
politically motivated.
Let us openly talk about these problems: let us talk about kokora and
the causes and impact of the 1991 spilt in the SPLM movement; let us
talk about our lands that have been grabbed by others or our crops
that have been destroyed by grazing cattle of SPLA commanders; let us
talk about our sons and daughters that have been murdered in cold
blood in peace time; let us talk about our communities that have been
ravaged to the ground by neighbouring clans or communities.
There are a lot of individuals out there who are still deeply hurt
because of past historical events or distortion of history. They feel
bitter and rejected by this or that community and display
disproportionate hatred, anger and resentment or out right aggression
for no good reason. Whether these injustices are real or perceived,
these deep unhealed wounds are preventing our people from leading
normal happy lives. These feelings which are translated into
widespread violence, intolerance and xenophobia, and are not confined
to our private domains but are carried into our places of work and
adversely impact on our official functions and duties. It is also
reflected in the segregated lives we lead, in our offices and in our
neighbourhoods.
One of the striking failures of the CPA was its failure to recognize
and address the issues of national reconciliation and healing. We are
not the only post-conflict country that needed a Truth and
Reconciliation commission. Reconciliation projects in Rwanda and
South Africa have helped these countries to come to terms with their
past and to move forward. After years of brutal apartheid regime, the
Commission helped victims and perpetrators alike to come to terms with
their grieve or historical injustices, to enable them to collectively
create a new South Africa -to become a home for all who were wronged
and those who had wronged.
Most South Sudanese have been traumatized, dehumanized and brutalized
by decades of war and are symptomatic of post traumatic stress
disorders such as violence, alcoholism, gun culture, which afflict
every fabric of our society. I once lived in a neighbourhood where a
teenage girl was brutally assaulted by her older brother each night,
when he came home drank. This violence against a powerless girl-
whatever her crime -was done in full view and encouragement of the
regularly drunken parents. For the fear of trespassing, neighbours
could only plead and watch ! This is not an isolated case, but a
widespread social malaise perpetrated against vulnerable people by
those who are suppose to protect them. The national ministry of
gender and social welfare should use its powers to ensure that homes
and villages are safe environments for minors. Brutality breeds
brutality and it is a crime, and perpetrators should be apprehended
and held to account.
Figuratively speaking, demons are what we fear however irrational they
are. They are barriers that torment us and stop us from moving on: the
demons of kokora; the demons of 1991 split; the demon of tribalism;
the demons of anger, hatred and resentment are testimonies that we are
all hurt and emotionally damaged, hence our extreme and sometimes
disproportionate reactions. Unless Southerners get in touch with
their damaged souls they cannot live in harmony with themselves or
others. Without confronting these demons we cannot truly adopt common
national vision and strategies for the greater common good. National
healing is a prerequisite for attaining true spirit of national
reconciliation and therefore nationhood. The only way we can put
these demons to rest is by acknowledging their existence, and
expressing them freely but not labelling them as “sensitive”. This is
both a personal and collective responsibility. To deny freedom of
expression is both oppressive and counter productive as we have seen
from the Arab awakening. We should embrace freedom of speech and
expression as a cornerstone of democratic principles.
It is hypocritical to talk of the sort of society we aim to achieve
unless national healing and reconciliation is prioritised and factored
into our national development plans. The government cannot bury its
head in the sand but must give the country the leadership it deserves
to address these social and political issues afflicting our society
that could potentially wreck sustainable national development and
cohesion.
Repatriation of stolen funds
If the President is serious about combating corruption, he doesn't
have to request Western governments to trace and repatriate South
Sudan's stolen millions or possibly billions from banks abroad. He
just needs to commission internationally renowned auditors to audit
GoSS accounts from 2005-2011. Government should know that it cannot
spend public money without accountability for its expenditure in a
transparent internationally acceptable manner. I am sure our
development partners: the US, Britain, the EU, and the World Bank who
all have offices/embassies in Juba will be more than happy to provide
expertise to audit our accounts, which can be paid for by
capacity-building funds donated to South Sudan by these same partners.
The records can then be collated with records from the ministry of
finance and the Bank of South Sudan to reveal the movements of funds,
what have been diverted, from which budget lines, in each financial
year per institution.
I am neither an accountant nor an economist but an ordinary citizens
who is just trying to understand what is happening and I beg to be
corrected, but I believe the world now has the technology which can
quickly handle these issues unless the government doesn't have the
political will to do so. The Auditor General Mr. Steve Wondu, who is
a professional accountant, has been in post for a while now, and
should help the country to sort out this mess otherwise he too will be
accused of complicity. By prematurely appealing to Western
governments directly, president Kiir is evading responsibility as the
head of the government that presided over massive corruption. If the
president is not protecting corruption, then we want to see not just
repatriation of the funds - although that will be a welcomed
development- but that those perpetrators are held accountable and
punished. Without a robust anti-corruption system in place, there is
no guarantee that the repatriated funds will not disappear again.
To conclude, I would like to highlight importance of the followings:
1. That our president should stop unnecessary interference with
the national parliament and allow ministers and others to execute
their duties to the best of their abilities.
2. There should be a clear separation of functions with respect
to service delivery between the national government and state
governments to avoid over lapping and duplication of functions and
therefore wastage of national resources.
3. There should be comprehensive national development plans
approved by the national assembly and its implementation overseen by
the same.
4. Expediting legislation of remaining Bills into laws, to
facilitate functioning of our ministries, commissions, and private
sector development.
5. Promoting transparency to facilitate informed engagement of
citizens in debating national issues.
6. Fiscal transparency and accountability at all levels of government.
7. Facilitating national reconciliation and healing.
8. Prosecution of corruption suspects without fear or favour. END
Ms Joana Adams, Juba, South Sudan, Oct 2011.
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