What Kiir Should and Should not do

By James Monyluak Majok

May 6, 2010 –The President-elect of the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, needs to run the next Southern administration differently than the previous administration. General Kiir appointment in 2005 by the SPLA generals, after untimely death of our late hero, Dr John Garang de Mabior in Southern town of New Site was a promise and assurance to the marginalize masses across Sudan that the vision of the SPLM movement has not perished with Garang, but alive.

This is why Kiir being always referred as Joshua to take us to the promise land as Joshua did so by taking Israelis people out from Egypt to their promise land after the death of Moses. Many people had no reservations in his appointment as Garang successor and wished him then to success in keeping the movement together given his long time commitment to the principles of the SPLM movement and loyalty to the leadership at the same time.

People were hoping him to deliver, but given his last administration performance; many would argue today that his long time conviction to the struggle seemed not to have revealed itself in his leadership during the last 5 years. There might be different ways to argue this.

Majority would argue that there were major factors why he did not do better as it was expected. The list of the factors could be so long, but common factors topped the list. Some analysts always concluded that the failure was almost based on the government being new infant or literally being a rebel movement lacking technical know-how to run something like this, lack of resources and expertise to meet the challenges and expectations. However, Kiir’s new administration needs to avoid lessons learnt and establish a new promising system, a system that works for all, a system that belongs to all practically – not in theory, and to win back the trust he lost from the very people who had once considered him second Joshua.

The very credit Kiir had in his first year was the South-South dialogue in bringing all the political forces in Southern Sudan on board. This was a fulfillment of Dr Garang promise when he said:

“Yet in terms of power-sharing in southern Sudan, I want to assure all that there will be enough room for everybody, including those who have not been associated with the SPLM/SPLA. Even those who for one reason or another were opposed or against the SPLM, there will be room for everybody; so I say to all southern Sudanese on the occasion of this signing of this comprehensive peace agreement, that there will be many rooms in an SPLM-based government in southern Sudan and all are welcome.”

This was Garang statement during the CPA signing ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya [January 9, 2005]. And so bringing the political forces on board by President Kiir was a big thumb-up for him. This political accommodation created conducive atmosphere of peace in the South and resulted not into a major political confrontation in the past years with the exception of ongoing intra-tribal and inter-tribal conflicts over petty issues across the region.

Kiir also got credits on his unwaivering clarity on the issue of self-determination for Southern Sudan through referendum exercise. We have seen this many times whenever our Northern brothers try to interfere with referendum issue. He has said this many times that referendum is most important for Southern Sudanese than anything else and we will defend it at all costs.

And because of this clarity and steadfast on referendum issue, Kiir easily won with the landslide victory against his rival, brother Lam Akol in just concluded recent election in Southern Sudan. Brother Lam has been inconsistent from day one when he joined the movement and cannot be trusted anymore. And besides, he let us down with his Nasir group. He was the sole architecture of the rebellion; brother Riek was misled; he was innocent and he should admit that as a vindication to his involvement. There is nothing to fear and I hope he will one day admit that.

That was the sole reason why Kiir was elected by the majority voters in the South over Lam Akol. And he should continue being consistent on referendum issue and let us hope together that we will cross to the other side of the river come 2011.

With regard to his last administration, many had argued and continue to argue that President Kiir did not deliver enough and needs to deliver this time when the next administration is formed. We all know that Kiir success or failure depends on his rules of the game and the players’ capacities as well. He did not put in place some crucial rules to administer the newly formed administration then and that is why many players in the field had no rules to follow. Most players ended up in the field playing the game by using their own senses and this resulted into failure and not succeeded as it was hoped by the fans.

In short, Southern Sudan seemed to have failed in the last administration because many government officials at all level of governments in the South were not doing enough to deliver basic services to the very people the SPLA/M fought for the last 21 years. Some had no visions to lead and some had intentionally abused the authority or steal the public funds for their own personal gains and ambitions. All these contributed to the frustration, violence, and pessimism.

Eventually, it created disappointment and prompted many to pose these questions: what were the reasons why we took up arm against the Khartoum regimes, is this what we fought for, is this the system we wanted, is this how an independent Southern Sudan would looks like, what is the different then between Khartoum regimes and GOSS, and finally, what is the point of separation then. This is just to name few of the questions many would pose.

Given all these mistakes of the last administration, President Kiir’s next administration needs to work hard in keeping Southerners together by putting in place the rules of the game and most importantly, create a system that is transparent and accountable to the public. You cannot convince to lead people who fought with you and are not at least satisfied with you when you cannot deliver. It is not going to work and you got to deliver this time.

For President Kiir to success this time, he needs to do the following things:

1) Appoint ministers who are capable of running the ministries to address the challenges;

2) Choose right advisers to better advises you correctly on daily basis;

3) **Appoint visionary commissioners so that they address the needs of the rural populations; it is obvious that the incoming governors have solemn roles to play in the appointment of the commissioners, but they need to coordinate this with you so that to heal some of the wounds out there. These must be developmental-oriented individuals because your success depends on theirs. Leave the ones who are already successful and replace those who have been there for last 5 years for the sake of being there. If you do this Mr. President, believe me, services will finally reach the needy ones and once that happen, the future will then looks more promising to all**;

4) I do not want to say this, but I have to say it: your cabinet must be diverse to avoid previous criticism that Kiir cabinet ministers were Aweil-Gogrial kitchen cabinet ministers; I know this is not how it should be, but this is the feeling out there, if you and your advisers do not feel or see this. Also, include those capable opposition parties expertise like Gabriel Changson in some of the ministries so that they, too feel at home;

5) Assures the masses across southern region to avoid violence because violence is the worst enemy to peace, development, and prosperity;

6) Must always address the nation in time of crisis. Doing so will always clarify doubts on the minds of many;

7) Must be a decision-making leader, you cannot appease all, but always do what is right at all cost. This is your most weakness point Mr. President. You seem to be silent most of the time on important issues when they need to be addressed or faced;

8) Last but not least, the public need to know your blueprint in general how your next administration will looks like and how an independent Southern Sudan will be better off given the injustices witnessed all over the region in all aspects.

These are the things to avoid in order to success:

1) Never listen to those who tell you to work with SPLM loyalists; work with everybody in the South because you are the president for all and not for SPLM party as some quarters in the SPLM party might believe so. Southern Sudan belongs to all its citizens and not for SPLM party alone though the SPLM party has clear political objectives and a ruling party at the same time;

2) Must avoid relying on the SPLM’s Political Bureau clique; they are destroying the party for their own benefits if you did not learn this. As a party leader, you should always have the last say base on a common sense, especially when it comes to common interests of Southern Sudanese people in particular;

3) Must avoid treating the incumbent governors-elect friendly, they must be abide by the rule of law, must deliver, and be watched carefully, otherwise, they will let you down again.

James Monyluak Majok is the Secretary General, SPLM Chapter in City of Windsor, Canada. He is reachable at [email protected]