Come, join and offer the missing leadership for the Republic of South Sudan

By Justin Ambago Ramba

November 18, 2011 — A few weeks ago the United South Sudan Party (USSP) started the South Sudan National Dialogue process and extended its invitation to all South Sudanese students worldwide. Today we thank those who received it and responded in kind. We also appreciate those who are still pondering the idea and may choose to respond in their own time.

This week we shall shed light on one issue of leading importance to you as young people – unemployment. The official figures stand well beyond 65%.

From August 2005, the SPLM-led government chose to adopt a system characterised by a ‘designed or institutionalised chaos.’ This was meant to reward cronies, while sacrificing the principles of liberation struggle.

Money squandered and development missed

If it were about rewarding those who had fought the liberation war directly or helping the widows and orphans they had left behind, the right approach would have been through administering social welfare.

A case study:

The ex-minister of Labour, Awut Achuil resigned her post. She had been a constant media presence determined to weed out corruption, by targeting fake appointees and ghost names found on payrolls of government departments.

This made her an immediate source of uneasiness for many in high profiled civil service positions. Since many were unable to produce academic documents or resumes to justify their employment.

The development process that should have begun in South Sudan since this government came into existence in 2005, could have only happened under this type of setting.

As somebody craftily put it, Awut Achuil’s threats to purge underperformers and unqualified government officials, must have rubbed some ‘high-up guys’ the wrong way. President Kiir to survive in power had to adopt an attitude, which favoured the minister’s resignation and not a confrontation with the perceived ‘strong guys’.

They had a legacy, but they killed it

Today the new Republic of South Sudan is experiencing a leadership crisis, which translates into poor quality governance. However to conclude that the South Sudanese cannot rule themselves is erroneous, for the best in this land have not yet been tested.

The truth that any objective individual can say is that the SPLM under its current leadership has failed the people of South Sudan. It is by acknowledging this, that we could begin the long journey into our second phase of the liberation struggle.

While it exploits being a signatory to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement [CPA], the SPLM continues to rule through a legacy that has suffered both abuse and misuse. This has paved the way for a default rule, which works to entrench poverty and fear in return for paradise for a few.

Although the April 2010 elections were necessary for the referendum that followed, much of today’s political miseries can be said to have evolved as a direct consequence of what we all witnessed and observed. It was a misrepresentation of the first step to democratic transformation.

All kinds of intimidation, humiliation, harassment, fraud and vote stuffing were practised by the two CPA partners; excluding the rest. The entire ordeal exposed the corrupt face of the SPLM. This was the impression shared by all including foreign observers and the international community.

Today the SPLM-led administration is in an even more precarious situation. It cannot rob an entire nation to the extent that reports of citizens dying of hunger, lack of shelter and basic medicines become everyday news, yet in Juba it is still business as usual.

The legacy of the ‘liberation struggle’ has been choked by embezzlement scandals. When we see SPLM ministers weeping upon hearing the report of the Auditor General on how millions of dollars disappeared unaccounted for (mind you this report only covers from July 2005 to July 2006), we are sure that the ‘liberation legacy’ is no more.

President Kiir must be seen to lead the recovery of stolen funds

Many of us are keen to see the billions in stolen funds reportedly hoarded in foreign banks recovered and repatriated. An amount of $20 billion in oil revenue received by the Government of South Sudan over the past six and a half years can hardly be accounted for in terms of developments on the ground.

By the display of confidence which President Kiir showed in front of the UN General Assembly and that he was going to oversee the recovery of stolen funds in South Sudan, thereafter becoming silent on the issue once back in Juba, shows how deeply involved he is in the money siphoning saga.

Al Intibah‘s list was under-reported

A few weeks ago a list of 16 embezzlers of public funds in South Sudan appeared in the Al Intibah tabloid newspaper. Amongst South Sudanese circles this wasn’t breaking news, except for the gross underestimate of figures, and lack of known personalities.

It doesn’t take rocket science to see how these billions of dollars could have been invested in South Sudan’s agriculture and created thousands of jobs. The so-called top government leaders are thieves from a public who are dying daily from treatable and preventable diseases, lack of food and clean drinking water.

We sincerely continue to thank the UN Mission in South Sudan for making our voices heard in the UN General Assembly. Together on the rubble of tyrants and wars, we will build the dream nation as South Sudan transforms into a democracy. It’s your future, and only you can have the final word!

Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba. Secretary General – United South Sudan Party [USSP] can be reached at: [email protected] or [email protected].