South Sudan govt needs to listen more to voice of despair
By Jacob K. Lupai*
May 14, 2007 — The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) have been under a barrage of criticism since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Naivasha in Kenya in January 2005. Depending on or from which angle the criticism is seen one thing may be clear. The criticism is not without a foundation. Since the formation of the GOSS, six months after the signing of the CPA, southerners have been entertained to a host of big lip services uncharacteristic of a revolutionary movement that had fought a war precisely against big lip services that were nothing but deceptions offered to the marginalised.
It is most likely that people may take it as unbelievable that big lip services should be offered at the time of high expectations of peace dividends to improve people’s living standards. Cases of mismanagement have been documented and admitted, an essential step in taking a remedial action. However, whether the remedial action is taking place is another matter. The signals seem to be that hardly remedial actions are taking place as the lip services offered still remain as lip services. People appear to have become immune to the fear of lying. The SPLM and the GOSS may need to listen more to the voices of genuine despair and to respond practically to salvage some credibility.
A citizen sent a word of appreciation of some of the articles by the author in the Sudan Tribune website. However, the citizen went on to express his utter despair with the actions of the SPLM and the GOSS. There was nothing private or confidential as most of the stuff has already been widely written anyway. It was more of a genuine expression of nationalism on what was perceived as the neglect of those who had made costly sacrifices for the homeland and an expression on the greed that seems to have substituted nationalism.
On my article on New Sudan vision the citizen said the GOSS has no implementing plans for the vision. The citizen was full of praise for Dr John Garang de Mabior saying when Dr John Garang de Mabior and quote, “addressing us the SPLA in every graduation ceremony when passing out new Graduants from the training Centres. That makes our Soldiers brave to face the enemy and it resulted in capturing of so many Towns in southern Sudan, Southern Kordofan and Southern Blue Nile. The writer was among the first SPLA contingents that captured Kurmuk and Gizan in 1987 and now have not taken any single penny of GOSS. But what happen, the SPLM/A leadership decided to forget those dedicated officers who suffered the effects of those serious wars, now marry themselves with those whom I may call political prostitutes who have been moving in and out”.
The language might have been offensive to have been quoted for public consumption but the strength of opinion on the perceived neglect of those who had given everything for the motherland couldn’t be ruled out. The citizen went on to say and quote, “I can remember in one meeting our Equatorian respected leader Mr. James Wani telling us that when a person kills an elephant, the killer does not enjoy the meat but the whole village eats, yes that can be true but I want to tell comrade Wani that the person who killed the elephant is always given the Tusk and the Trunk which are more precious than the meat”.
The moral of the quotation above seems to indicate that those who fought the enemy in the frontline should have the prerogative over and above those who didn’t. This is interesting. This may be an explanation of the rampant corruption and the ghost employees who may be the relatives of those who may claim they were in the frontline to justify the relatives to draw salaries from what should have been going for development and services to improve living standards. Those who participated in the frontline may assume that it is their right to have access through wherever means to the petrodollars handed out to the South, hence the seemingly astronomical level of corruption that the SPLM and the President of the GOSS have acknowledged and promised to take action, and will observe zero tolerance. However, one only hopes that it is not the type of lip service that is often heard of.
The citizen’s strong opinion on the SPLM and the GOSS suggests there is a long way before people’s opinions may shift favourably. The SPLM and the GOSS may therefore have a lot to do to turn people’s perceptions of their dismal failures in providing services to the people as the expected peace dividends. The complaint of this citizen may not be an isolated case. A lot has already been written about the GOSS being grossly incompetent in the delivery of the vital services to the people of Southern Sudan. Corruption and inefficiency have been the black spots of the GOSS that identify it with all the misery in the South. The GOSS is so incompetent that in other circumstances it would have earned a vote of no confidence that it might have been kicked out of office for others to have the opportunity to serve their people as expected.
In terms of agriculture a big lip service is only being offered which does nothing to promote the image of the GOSS as committed to household food security. In peace time the population of Southern Sudan should be about 90 percent rural. This suggests that agriculture is likely to be the main source of livelihoods of the majority of the population. It doesn’t need any further elaboration on the extent agriculture is vital to the development of Southern Sudan. Unfortunately, except for the big lip service, the state of agriculture seems to be no different from the time the British started to colonise the Sudan. We have to depend on food imports as if Southern Sudan is not an agricultural region. One may wonder whether there are people who feel proud to rely on foreign farm produce imports. Southern agriculturists must be the most frustrated because instead of being out in the fields with the farmers they may be yawning repeatedly in poorly resourced offices.
Contracts may be awarded to bogus companies most probably for kickbacks with the vain belief that something will happen. Contractors are no fools. When contractors sense a corrupt system they may just pocket the money and play the waiting game until nobody bothers to make queries. This may be how services do not reach the people. The system of awarding contracts may have become the lucrative sources of money to the greedy and the corrupt in our midst. We all need money and want to be millionaires but let’s at least be conscious of the welfare of our people. Without being greedy all of us will be wealthy. The South is very rich in natural resources that our per capita should be one of the highest in the world. However, unless we liberate ourselves from greed, corruption will be out trade mark for some time to come.
In relation to Southern Sudan other Africans have clean drinking water, good sanitation and waste disposal system, excellent road, clean hospitals and wonderful schools. I am sure those southerners with villas in Kampala and Nairobi will appreciate high living standards and hygienic conditions. If we can appreciate the good things found in other countries what on earth are we doing to our virgin land of wider opportunities? Let’s hope the SPLM and the GOSS listen more to the genuine despair of the people for a high standard of living which is produced by the sum total of all services.
The citizen criticised me though mildly on my article on the New Sudan vision. He said I talked of some mechanism of achieving the New Sudan vision that included Darfur and Abyei. The citizen said and quotes, “these are two different and separate entities from the South how will the SPLM vision merge them or amalgamate them. This I think is a wrong way of doing things if SPLM think they are the ones to advocate for Unity they are wrong, we are the aggrieved party we should be concise in put our grievances forward and educate our masses rightly for the independent of South Sudan. Let the NCP be the one to make unity attractive if they failed well and good for the people of South Sudan”.
The above quotation clearly seems to show that the NCP has a job to do to win the hearts and minds of southerners to be positive of unity. However, all indications suggest that the NCP has no time left to make unity attractive. The attractiveness of independence from racism and religious bigotry appears to be the more appealing. The opinion expressed by the citizen may be indicative of the silent majority in the South.
The citizen went further to say and quote, “SPLM as a party should not forget that there is a enormous job for them to do, first as a party fighting for the rights of marginalised communities, I ask the Movement to demarcate the County borders and Constituents borders these will allow us to conduct a fare election next year 2008 and Referendum in 2011, otherwise some Communities will not be participating in the elections because of new marginalization by our own so-called liberators, yet they were once political prostitutes now busy enjoying the little resources that would have been used for Development projects to help needy people that we were liberating”.
Again a strong opinion and a message to the SPLM and the GOSS to take the task of development seriously. For now the SPLM and the GOSS are seen as contributing to the further underdevelopment of the South in the way the South has fared since the signing of the CPA and the formation of the GOSS. However, in the circumstances it is fair to say that the GOSS has done something. Children are going to school and some repair work going on. We also have expensive tent hotels and whether this is development I have no clue.
Finally the citizen seems to have come to the conclusion that agriculture and quote, “is one of the first to be considered if really GOSS government is serious to build the economy of South Sudan for we can not wait until referendum”. This may have exonerated me from being seen as critical for nothing of the GOSS lack of commitment to agricultural development but only big lip service. A citizen touring Warrap State was appalled by the lack of even seeds to the farmers.
In conclusion it is considered that the SPLM and the GOSS should learn to listen and respond positively in practical terms to people’s voices of genuine despair. The SPLM and the GOSS are doing themselves disservice by concentrating on politics and big lip services as if people are naïve to be observant. The citizen’s strong opinions above about the SPLM and the GOSS is shared by many especially those who have observed first hand the GOSS utterly poor or non-existent delivery of vital services, for example, like clean drinking water, and sanitary and swage disposal system for a quality of life of people after decades of absolute deprivation.
*The author is an agricultural extension expert and a researcher on household food security with reference to peasant farming. He can be reached at [email protected]
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