South Sudan Forum urges implementation of Garang’s vision

January, 8, 2006 — Now that the South Sudanese masses are poised to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the CPA, all people will expect the leadership of the SPLM, in particular Lt. Gen. Kiir Mayardit, to present to the public the major achievements the GOSS has achieved between Sept. 2005—Dec. 2006, since during that time the legislature passed two major budgets of $800m and $1.3 billion respectively. The total amount of budget for that period is $2.1 billion, almost more than half of the amount of money donors pledged in Oslo.

We hope the interim president will have the courage and the guts to tell people what had been achieved so far in the following areas: How many trunk roads that have been built? How many schools that have been built or rehabilitated starting from primary up to further and higher education? How many primary health centers, district and regional hospitals have been built or rehabilitated? What improvement has been made in the area of clean water in the major capital of ten states and the rural areas? How many government houses have been built as well as resettlement villages for returnees and the internally displaced peoples? How many agricultural schemes have been set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to alleviate the problem of food insecurity and pave the way for self-sufficiency?

We hope the interim president will give a satisfactory account on the expenditure of $2.1 billion over the fifteen month period when he formed the government in September, 2005. Of course, we have no doubt that Lt. Gen. Kiir Mayardit is a honorable man who does not tolerate corruption as he had been fighting it in the past 22 years. His speech in Rumbek in 2004 confirmed his commitment to combating or rid the South off corruption and corrupt practices. In that conference, CDR Salva Kiir challenged Dr. Garang and had this to say about the corruption: “I would also like to say something about rampant corruption in the Movement. At the moment some members of the movement have formed private companies, bought houses and have huge bank accounts in foreign countries. I wonder what kind of system are we going to established in South Sudan considering ourselves indulged in this respect”

With such a statement, we have no doubt in our minds that the interim president will stand by his own words and therefore would expect the committee that was set up by parliament to investigate corruption in the Ministry of Finance to come out with the recommendations that would be the beginning of weeding out corruption and malpractices, even if it means taking firm and stern measures that may affect some leaders who are abusing the system. Or to put it in the words of Dr. Samson Kwaje, former Spokesman of the SPLM/A and the current Minister of Information, on the East African News Paper of August, 2003 that “there are people in the SPLM/A who’re rotten; those who’ve committed gross human rights violations. In peacetime, they’ll be weeded out”.

Of course, we do not expect the GOSS or interim president to perform miracles overnight, but given the amount of money the South obtained within that short period, it is common sense that the president would like the public to hear how these funds have been disbursed, how much that has been spent and on what? And how much is left for the task a head? We hope the rampant corruption that he is struggling to combat has not eaten up a large proportion of these amount as we have been told that out of $2.1 billion, about a third of it is unaccounted for. This is now causing a great concern among members of South Sudan legislative assembly and the public and they are wondering whether the budget of 2007 should be passed without hearing the report of the Minister of Finance about the expenditure of two years budget starting from September, 2005 to December, 2006—although we know that is far cry from legislators knowing the stubbornness of Minister of Finance, Mr. Arthur Akuen Chol, who refused to testify before the House Committee on corruption within his ministry, which was set up following the suspension of top five senior finance officers, including the two under-secretaries.

If his refusal to testify before the parliamentary committee investigating corruption is true as we gather from reliable sources, what steps will the president take when the report reaches him? Will he suspend the Minister of Finance for defying the parliamentary committee investigating corruption? Or will he dismiss him, arrest him, or leave him at large to continue with his looting spree? Has the president not learnt from his mentor, Dr. Garang, regarding combating corruption when he said in Rumbek that “on the issue of corruption, this animal has grown bigger, to the extent that we cannot catch it using nets”?

Perhaps the current corrupt practices and the move toward the institutionalization of corruption may be the work of corrupt individuals who were recruited during the struggle as Dr. Garang told New York Times Magazine’s Journalist in June, 1994 interview when he was asked about corruption. Dr. Garang, in his reply, said the following: “For every hundred men I recruit I may have two thieves”. With 180, 000 SPLM/A fighters recruited between 1983 and 1991, based on this logic, nearly 4000 rascal thieves and corruption lords were recruited during that period. There is a possibility that large proportion of that figure survived the war and they are members of SPLM party who may be occupying higher positions, as the news of corruption we receive daily are associated with some whom he had appointed to the leadership but could not give them assignments because of corruption—but he needed them to fight the war at the time.

Knowing that there is a large significant number of robbers, rascals and thieves recruited by Dr. Garang who might be members of the GOSS under his leadership, what plans does he have to discipline them or give them honorable retirement since they were used in the struggle but survived the war? Will they be treated as SPLM/A veterans of corruption and should not be questioned and be left as such? If the president cannot provide safeguards to protect public funds and resources from SPLM veterans of corruption, where does he expect people to turn to? Has he forgotten the question posed by Tiger Battalion?

Tiger Battalion posed the following questions: “1. People’s army, ask the whole World, what took us to bush? 2. Why did the people of South Sudan take up arms?” The same Tiger Battalion provided answers for their questions. First, it was to liberate the South from the domination of the Arab North. Secondly, it was to fight against economic, social and political injustices which were imposed by the successive Northern regimes leading to marginalization of South Sudan. Tiger made it clear that the men and women of South Sudan will fight against the northern domination up to the last two persons.

With the twist of events, where the enemy of the South is no longer with us, but has been replaced by our own new found oppressors masquerading as liberators, is it not high time for the people of the South to revisit the Tiger Battalion’s enquiries into our struggle? Will we not take seriously into account the remarks made by Chairman of Parliamentary Committee, Prof. Bari Wanji, investigating corruption within the Ministry of Finance when he said that “corruption is a social, cultural and economic genocide”? Is it not high time that those who committed “economic genocide” should be brought to justice? Perhaps Tiger Battalion’s veterans would recommend to the GOSS to form a committee to investigate not only the Ministry of Finance, but the whole web of Gogrial-Aweil dynasty and other Ministries that have been accused of mismanaging public funds—as clearly stated in the press release of SPLM/A Veterans against corruption and nepotism titled “Incompetence and Corruption are the Hallmarks of GOSS”.

With Prof. Wanji’s remarks, perhaps we should in all earnest reflect and take account of what our spiritual leader and Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wacko said about corruption in Southern Sudan. The most reverend made it clear that corruption in Juba is widespread to the point that anyone can practice it with impunity and even with pride. With such a remark coming from a revered and well respected spiritual leader, what is then left for Salva Kiir Mayardit to salvage? As a practicing Catholic who often goes to attend church services and take his mass (serve holy communion), is he not well aware of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in rendering services to the poor and liberating them from the bondage of poverty, oppression and corruption, as they have done in most of the third world countries particularly in Latin America where the church has a powerful role to play? Has he forgotten the role of the churches during liberation struggle which led to the formation of the New Sudan Council of churches and made the whole World to understand the flight of the people of South Sudan from Arab domination?

If Kiir doesn’t take seriously the advice of spiritual leaders, perhaps he should be reminded to take note of the remarks made by CDR James Wani Igga in Rumbek Conference of 2004. CDR James Wani, among others, listed problems which he envisaged were responsible for the crippling of the SPLM/A movement and its institutions, i.e., rampant corruption, the existence of kitchen cabinet, tribalism, nepotism, and regional discrimination. Unless Mayardit is still maintaining his position which he stated clearly during the conference that he was much concerned only about the welfare of the people of Bhar el Ghazal whom he regarded were being marginalized in the Movement—as he alleged that “there are people among us who are more dangerous than the enemy”—only to be rebuked by CDR Oyai Deng Ajak, current Chief-of-staff of the SPLA that CDR Kiir Mayardit should show statesmanship and behave like a South Sudan leader, which has now come to be true having taken over the rein of power after the tragic death of his dear leader and mentor.

Coming back to celebration of the 2nd anniversary of the CPA, we would expect the president to give a statement on the current state of affairs that has affected some members of the top leadership of the SPLM regarding allegations of misappropriation of public funds. The public would expect him to endorse the proposal of honorable Yasser Arman, the member of politburo of the SPLM and leader of SPLM Caucus in the National assembly, who recommended the formation of ad-hoc committee at presidency level to investigate and fight corruption in the apparatus of the state. Such a panel should probe into rampant corruption and the allegations that have been brought against the Vice-president and Minister of Housing, Dr. Riek Machar, Madam Rebecca de Mabior, Minister for Roads and transport and Lt. Gen. Oyai Deng Ajak, Chief-of-staff of the SPLA army.

According to our own reliable sources, the May, 2006 GOSS budget was $1.3 billion in which some of the institutions that had the lions share were the SPLA Affairs with the budget of $526 million; Roads and Transport with $165 million and Ministry of Housing with $120 million. Could there be a correlation between the allegations brought against Riek Machar, Rebecca Nyandeng, Oyai Deng Ajak and the handling of funds under these institutions as we recently experienced the JIUs’ protest and the deterioration of roads in Juba including lack of housing for the government employees? Perhaps, this question should be answered by the president himself as he is fully aware of the monumental task of development that waits the GOSS. We assume that the president has the master plan for the development of the South as it was laid down by Dr. John Garang where he identified the priority areas that should be addressed immediately within the eighteenth month period after the signing of the CPA and the formation of the GOSS.

Among some of Dr. Garang top priorities were trunk roads that would have to be completed in the first eighteen months of the formation of the Government of Southern Sudan and which would come into service after twenty four or thirty six months. According to that schedule, Southern Sudan would have a reasonable road network by 2008. Food security was a common sense objective that had to be achieved at the shortest time possible. This was to be done through the direct empowerment of the family to expand and improve production of crops and livestock. Self sufficiency was to begin at the household level. Dr. Garang was going to use the oil revenue to fuel agriculture—the only economic sector in which all the people are involved in one way or the other. The policy objective is to evade the tendency of oil dependency and economic policies aimed at creating small super-rich elite of the SPLM party and a vast poor majority of South Sudan.

So far, we can only see that the Ministry of Roads and Transport is receiving a reasonable amount of budget for the realization of Dr. Garang’s vision. However, the way the Ministry is handling the matters pertaining to roads construction may not lead to meeting the deadline Garang suggested. As for other ministries, particularly the Agriculture—which is the backbone of Southern Sudan economy—we have not seen any step towards increasing agricultural production that may give incentive to rural farmers to reach the level of self-sufficiency and move towards cash crop economy that may spur economic growth both in the rural and urban sectors. Kiir Mayardit should understand that what sustains the rural and the urban poor is their local economy based on informal sector, i.e., sale of local produces (fruits and vegetables) and the local beer brewing, which make them earn their living as well as providing some sort of social amenities. That is why foreigners who visit Juba usually find government employees and their bosses busy taking their beers to encourage them to go back to work in order to boost productivity, or to put succinctly, in order to cripple productivity in government offices. It should be made clear to Kiir Mayardit that Garang’s vision of developing economy of the South is very important and must be taken up seriously by the GOSS if they still maintain his legacy.

For Contact

Gordon Buoy
Chairman of South Sudan Democratic Forum-Canada
Ottawa, ON

Tel. (613)260-9307

Email: [email protected]