Mis-procurement by the Government of Southern Sudan
Anti-aid and Resources Mismanagement Unit (AAMU)
Press Release
August 15, 2006 (JUBA) — It was a big smile and loud laughing when the Southern Sudanese community saw the chiefs of the World Bank arrival to Juba in their local news featuring good hope that things may change from the experienced worse situation of having no good roads, water, schools, health facility and public electricity in the capital city of Southern Sudan, Juba. Given the bundle of amount of money pledged in Oslo Donors meeting. It turned out to be a nightmare of words and left the ground with break news of mismanagement of funds.
As explicitly pronounced by the chiefs of the World Bank during their arrival to the capital town of Juba for the first time since Sudan civil war broke out in 1983 leading to the pullout of the Major donors in Sudan and since the Bank resumed their work as administrators of the Multi Donor Trust Funds in North and Southern part of the Country, it is not regrettable that, the mishandling and misappropriate used of the procurement rules has taken place in the projects of the government of Southern Sudan, due to the fact that, the World Bank or the so-called MDTF Southern technical secretariat has been involved in having inexperienced personnel who inevitably ignored the processes and the policies being the world Bank’s procurement procedures that have more transparency in the public account’s expenses as demonstrated in other post-conflict countries throughout the world and continued negotiating contracts with the government on behave of the later contracted firms to do rehabilitation of schools, hospitals and etc. it is clear that, the government of Southern Sudan lacks the capacity and expertise to handle various professionalized work in the ministries but does it means that, the person with no capacity be given another person without capacity? The WB has to initiated the reality of supporting the government with experts with a proven skills as not spoiled their proven good quality of work that it has demonstrated in the post-conflict and the reconstructions over the world. The management of AAMU is closely watching on the aid and development funds usage in Southern Sudan and will keep informing Sudanese communities in any new development downfall and the progresses made as per the Goss and the developmental partners.
As a result of misprocurement contributed to by some inexperienced with personnel interests brought in by the Bank and who behaves as representatives of the government in the respective ministries the are posted to as technical assistants, it would have been good to hold the government of Southern Sudan responsible with what the have contributed to as pronounced”misprocurement and given a respective punishments/penalties of misusing public money. If this was not so, there is no way the government who seemed to have been brought/supported by the agencies with an experienced technical advisers can do mis-procurement. I bet this need to be investigated and taken into the jurisdiction of a clear judgment by withdrawing the technical experts “so called African experts” from these duties of advisory to the ministries and replaced with a scrutinized personalities with a proven skills and with approval by the board of expertise being in the Bank or the GoSS ministry of Labor and Public Services under a competitive processes of selection. Bank should stopped pointing their fingers on the GoSS before correcting their professionalism that they have asserted in South Sudan.
As an experienced institution, we argued that, the correct or look at the technical assistance to the government of Southern Sudan seriously to avoid such incidents in the earliest time as possible so that, the advocacy of corruption is rooted earlier into the system and also restore their recognition that has been rocked by bad news of having delayed the government in delivering services to the needy communities of Southern Sudan that have never seen any development for over years in war.
Stay tuned to AAMU releasing a comprehensive report on the mismanagement of funds in Southern Sudan. This will include other agencies operating in Southern Sudan. We are determined to watch out for you. For the development you want, through us you will enjoy it!
Any information, please contact Mr. Alfred D. Wani, Executive Director AAMU on email: [email protected]