Southern Sudan Roads: what are people to believe?

By Jacob K. Lupai*

September 10, 2007 — Many people who visit Southern Sudan and observe the conditions of trunk and feeder roads, and road network in towns and cities may shake their heads in disbelief of what they are seeing as I did when I went to Juba in 2006 after twenty years when I was last in Juba. The explanation of the conditions of roads may be simple. Southern Sudan had been at war for 22 good years where road maintenance was utterly neglected as resources were poured into the war machine on the part of the government of the day. Trunk and feeders roads in Southern Sudan were colonised by dense vegetation and bridges were broken in the course of the war probably to deny enemy combatants mobility. Roads were barely passable. However, in January 2005 the guns went silent permanently as a comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) was signed, ushering in a new era of peace, stability and development. The CPA was joyfully received throughout Southern Sudan notwithstanding celebrations by southern Sudanese wherever they were in the world.

The CPA established self-government for Southern Sudan as an autonomous region. The task for the government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) was enormous. The task was rehabilitation and development of a virtually destroyed region in infrastructure wise. Apparently the GOSS was to start from scratch with no resources of its own but to rely on the good will of the central government of national unity (GONU) and on the benevolence of the international community. This scenario makes Southern Sudan highly reliant on external resources for its very survival. This is evidently worrying for southern policy makers and planners. Reliance on the GONU and donors from the international community for everything Southern Sudan needs is even more worrying. The deliberate slow release of funds for development from donors and the lack of transparency on the part of GONU in releasing the share of the oil revenues all add up to the problems Southern Sudan currently faces in its development plans. To address the problem there is a need for self-reliance on local revenue generating projects as a matter of priority.

With regards to roads in Southern Sudan it is not clear whether there are new roads being constructed or it is the old roads being repaired. One may imagine that both activities are taking place concurrently. However, with limited resources it may be unlikely. The priority, though, should be the rehabilitation and repair of the existing maintenance starved roads to contribute to development and poverty eradication by increasing access to markets and by enabling access to basic social and local government services. Rehabilitation or repairing of roads that people can observe with satisfaction may convince people that they have a government that cares and committed to provide the needed services. However, to be fair the GOSS has been striving to provide services as peace dividends. About 870 kilometres of road in Southern Sudan have been repaired. Journey times to the various destinations have been drastically reduced to the satisfaction of motorists. Goods can be transported from one location to the other with ease. The GOSS and its Ministry of Transport and Roads deserve a credit for the efforts made so far in difficult circumstances. However, one nagging question is the condition of roads in Juba the supposed capital city of both Southern Sudan and Central Equatoria State. Regrettably the conditions of the roads in and around Juba encourage somebody to lose confidence in the GOSS as a serious national institution that has the responsibility to provide at least the basic services to its citizens.

To pick on roads only may not be fair to the GOSS and its Ministry of Transport and Roads. Other sectors of the economy should also be covered for a fair assessment of the extent to which the GOSS was making any progress in services delivery to the people. However, as Juba is the hub of Southern Sudan the road infrastructure is of paramount interest to many. In view of this it is fair to concentrate on the road network in and around the city of Juba. Observation shows that the entire road network in Juba city and its suburbs leaves a lot to be desired. The main road leading from Juba International Airport through Juba Teaching Hospital, Malakal, Atlabara, Juba University, Customs, Southern Sudan Assembly and to Central Equatoria State Headquarters needs not only repairs but to be upgraded to be truly a city ring road. I find it a waste of time to describe each and every road in and around Juba city centre for all are in a dire state of utter disrepair. The Ministry of Transport and Roads no doubt knows about this but may cite the lack of resources as the main reason for the miserable conditions of roads in Juba. Madame Rebecca Nyandeng probably lost her job for the endless narration of reasons for inaction in road repairs. Another scenario of endless reasons for the miserable conditions of roads may be on the cards. This time the reason is the highly publicised low oil revenues. However, why were the roads in and around Juba city in a miserable state of disrepair when the oil revenues were at their highest for the two good years since the signing of the CPA? It seems there is always a reason no matter what to push the blame to somewhere else. It is unacceptable for the city of Juba to endure the appalling road conditions while it is the pride of Southern Sudan after a 22 year of destructive war of liberation. Even if there was a drop in oil revenues if the Juba city road network was the priority it would have still got a share of the oil revenues to complete some of the routes of the network. It is convenient to quantify the length of completed routes of the road network in Juba city. For example, key routes of the city centre road network could be the focus, hence could be quantified in assessing performance and progress.

The drop in oil revenues may not be so dramatic so as to cause panic. The GOSS Ministry of Education is said to receive 7.5 per cent of the Southern Sudan share of the oil revenues but may receive 6.2 per cent as a result of the drop in oil revenues. The Ministry of Education will not therefore receive a lion’s share drop in the oil revenues in relation to its usual share. If this may be the case with the other ministries of the GOSS then development plans may not be terribly affected. Development activities may be carried on although with some reduced capacity. For convenience people need statistics that may give a detailed picture of the situation. Generalisations may be erroneous and misleading. People need details to be convinced. For example, if we say a road of 100 kilometres is to be repaired but due to the drop of oil revenues the road repair work will be affected. The question to ask is how the road will be affected quantitatively and what are the alternatives if any. Surely development work should not only depend on the oil revenues. Funds could be available from the Multi-Donor Trust Fund. This should be something planners may like to consider when developing a project. A number of alternative funding sources should be envisaged so that a project may not get stuck in the middle with poor outcomes such as the miserable state of repairs of Juba roads.

The GOSS may need to consider looking at the civil service to identify the ability to perform in the delivery of services. Reshuffling ministerial positions is only one way to address a problem. Incompetence of the civil service may also be a problem in services delivery. With people who have never experienced any other system than the system under war conditions efficiency and innovativeness may be compromised. Many have lost the sense of innovation because of having been groomed under a top-down system where innovation might have hardly been entertained. It was always instruction from the boss with a bottom-up system unheard of. However, putting a practical person in the right place is important in our development endeavours. Relying on people who say what they can do but in reality do very little in terms of tangible outcomes that are observable and quantifiable may be a waste of scarce resources.

In assessing progress the rate of passes in a school may give a glimpse of how dedicated the teachers and those involved in education may be. The quality and lengths of roads constructed, maintained and used may also suggest the dedication of our civil engineers. The electrification of our cities, towns and rural villages may indicate we have electric engineers who are genius. Too much talking and propaganda should not be the characteristics of civil servants. The civil servants should be the practical men of Southern Sudan who make things happen in broad day light for the benefit of the people after decades of social, political and economic wilderness.

*The author is a researcher and can be reached at [email protected]