Speech of Salva Kiir before South Sudan Legislative Assembly
May 15, 2007 (JUBA) — May 15, 2007 (JUBA) — The following is the speech of Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice-President, and President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), at the opening of the first session of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly on 14th, May 2007:
Honorable Members of Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly,
Distinguished Guests,
Members of the Diplomatic Community,
Ladies and Gentlemen
I have the honor to greet you and welcome most of you back to Juba. This is yet another privilege for me to open your first Parliamentary session for the year 2007.
May I ask you to stand up and observe a minute’s silence in memory of our late leader Dr. John Garang de Mabior and all our fallen heroes and heroines.
Our nation owes a lot to Dr. John Garang de Mabior both in terms of his personal role in our long march towards our ultimate objective and the vision that he bequeathed us.
Allow me also to greet our people wherever they are in any corner of our large motherland with a special acknowledgement for SPLA soldiers who continue to demonstrate a remarkable sense of duty and amazing perseverance.
Government Activities
As you resume your legislative duties today, I wish to assure you that your government remains as committed as ever before to fulfilling the objectives that I spelled out to our people a year ago vide the Policy Statement of the Government of Southern Sudan (2006).
The 200 – Day Action Plan, which represented the first installment of the overall program of action, has on average, gone fairly well.
As a quick recap, the immediate construction and development strategies prioritized for this phase were:
(i) rehabilitation of physical infrastructure,
(ii) provision of basic social services
(iii) building the Economy
(iv) strengthening the public institutions and promotion of good governance at all levels of government in Southern Sudan, and
(v) Maintenance of peace and security.
An appraisal of these priorities will undoubtedly reveal to us that progress is indeed being achieved on all of them. Work on the rehabilitation of inter- state roads continue unabated and the length of all – season roads increases by the day. The situation should even improve further given the fact that the US government has offered bilateral assistance to the tune of 700 million USD, dedicated to road construction. This grant will be applied by the renowned international construction company, the Louis Berger Group.
Basic Social Services
Delivery of basic social services is improving both in terms of quality and outreach. Although the number of health facilities has not expanded as much as we would desire, health care now reaches more people than 18 months ago when GOSS was established. Above all, the quality of health care has certainly improved with more medicines now being made available to the existing hospitals and primary health care centers. However; more effort is still needed. Many hospitals still remain without medical doctors and qualified trained nurses throughout Southern Sudan. The Government of Southern Sudan takes this opportunity to call upon the sons and daughters of our motherland, who have excelled in the field of medicine now working abroad, to come back home so that the knowledge they have acquired could benefit our people.
In the area of education, overall enrollment in primary schools has shot up to 850,000 with a substantial increase in the number of girls. Over 2000 teachers are undergoing fast –track training and will be graduated this coming June. The equitable deployment of that number of teachers will certainly improve the quality of education throughout Southern Sudan. The “Go- to School” program is being earnestly pursued by the Ministry of Education and I appeal to parents, traditional and community leaders, local government authorities, county administrators and state governments to give full support to this strategy and help educational authorities to implement it. Education is the key of our future strength and success. At this juncture, I strongly appeal to all parents to enhance that girls are encouraged to go to school.
Provision of clean drinking water in Southern Sudan, particularly during the dry seasons, continues to pose a perennial problem for our people and a serious challenge for our government. Although Southern Sudan is home to the largest fresh- water swamp in the world, millions of our citizens still endure scarcity of water year after year, simply because they cannot physically access the reservoir of this precious natural resource.
However; the Ministries of Cooperative and Rural Development and that of Water Resources and Irrigation are currently implementing programs for making drinking water available to as many of our citizens as possible. Boreholes are being sunk throughout the South to make underground water available to those settled far away from all-season streams or rivers. Streams or rivers that dry up for some part of the year, but have the potential to retain water throughout the year will be dredged and their natural course enhanced accordingly.
I believe we have achieved a lot with regard to strengthening our public institutions and promoting good governance. Capacity building is one area where we have received a huge response from the friends of Southern Sudan. We in GOSS have sametimes felt that the frequency of training workshops inside and outside the country was starting to constitute a constraint on the performance of some institutions. The principle of good governance is being pursued with diligence. Institutional guidelines and legal mechanisms are being constantly introduced and developed. Measures to ensure transparency and accountability are being progressively consolidated.
Repatriation and Resettlement Program:
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members,
The repatriation of our people and their resettlement to their ancestral homeland from the neighboring countries is as important as the resettlement of our internally displaced citizens within Sudan. This includes those in and around Khartoum or in the whole of Northern Sudan for that matter. This needs our collective action to see to it that this process is given the priority and attention it deserves.
Apart from the need for our people to rebuild their lives after the long devastating war, they need medical services, clean drinking water, sanitation, and schools for their children. It is a challenge facing your government, but it ought to be done. I therefore call upon all of you in this august house to stand up for this challenge. Together with our states, counties and up to Payam and Boma level, I believe we will overcome the challenge if we could work as a team.
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members,
Another challenge your government is facing is the Population Census, scheduled to take place towards the end of this year, 2007. This is a huge undertaking, which Southern Sudan has never experienced before. In the population census, that we had previously witnessed, accuracy of the entire exercise and its outcome was not important. Our population in Southern Sudan used to be predetermined by those who wanted it to be so for the reasons best known to them. But in the coming census, we want to prove to the world and those who used to give approximated figures that they were wrong.
General Elections 2008/9
The accuracy of the population census will be crucial to the effectiveness of the general elections to be held throughout Sudan towards the end of 2008. These elections are known as the midterm elections, which I believe will be a determinant factor for many things regarding the CPA. I also call upon our people to prepare and fully participate in both the population census as well as these coming elections.
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members,
Although we do not yet have up-to-date macro- economic indicators about the state of our economy, it would be realistic to state that Southern Sudan is doing well on that front. Any keen observer cannot miss the tremendous expansion in economic activity that is occurring throughout the South.
One very good aspect of this reality is that the private sector is taking the lead and the construction industry is the most prominent in this effort. In this regard I am delighted to inform this Honorable House that our Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation will soon be able to provide data related to inflation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as key indicators for assessing our progress.
Nevertheless, we have been experiencing some temporary financial hiccups in the public sector. As you are all aware, we rely nearly wholly on our share of oil revenue to meet our financial obligations. However, the months of February and March witnessed a substantial drop in our income from oil revenue due to fluctuations both in production levels and oil prices in the international markets.
This situation highlights the urgency of the need for us to develop other sources of non-oil revenue. In this respect, the government has prepared a Revenue Bill and a Public Finance and Accountability Bill, both of which should soon be presented to your august house for deliberation and approval. I urge you to be diligent in your deliberations and pass the necessary bills that will alleviate the financial and economic bottlenecks facing our people and Government of Southern Sudan.
I wish to take this opportunity to reiterate the decision of the Council of Ministers, reversing the decision it took at the beginning of this year regarding salary levels of government employees within the context of the 2007 budget.
Salaries in the previous financial year had been budgeted for in US dollar but paid in Sudanese Dinar at the rate of SD250 to the dollar. Over the year the Sudanese Dinar appreciated considerably against the dollar until the exchange rate stood at SD200 to the dollar by the time the current budget was passed by your august house. As a result the government incurred huge losses and the decision was made to pay government employees salaries and wages in the new Sudanese Pound calculated at the exchange rate of 2 Pound to the dollar.
Regrettably, this decision in turn resulted in substantial losses for government employees amounting to a 20% reduction in their salaries and wages across the board. The government therefore made a decision that it would have to bear the extra financial burden and that its employees’ salaries and wages would return to their previous levels starting from the month of April 2007.
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members,
Please allow me to congratulate this august house for the work well done on the passing the budget for the year 2007, which came just before your recess. The budget you passed remains your sole responsibility and duty to see into it that every penny spent is transparently accounted and for the good of our people and country. As we open this first session I wish to once again bring to your attention our Policy Statement delivered before you on April 10th, 2006. Your government is hereby reaffirming its commitment to translate the whole outlined programs therein into concrete achievements that will make a difference in the livelihood of our people without any deviation.
War on corruption:
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me remind ourselves once again about the war on corruption in our government institutions. The Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly and all the state Assemblies are the oversight institutions, and are hereby called upon to play this leading role in protecting the public funds and all government properties from being looted by some government officials and their agents.
Indeed, unless all of us in the three branches of government — Executive, Legislature and Judiciary – and all our law enforcement agencies are fully involved into fighting against corruption in our country, it will not be an easy task to decisively win this war.
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members,
At the beginning of the year 2007, I visited Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, and Western Equatoria states. The states’ visit program will continue to cover all the remaining states of Southern Sudan, and two states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan in the North. With the three states so far visited, I can assure you that our communities in these states are peaceful and determined to rebuild their lives back to normal after the long devastating civil war in our country.
Insecurity is, however, still a concern in all the three states I visited, though the causes of the insecurity may differ from one state to another. The latest outrage was the senseless massacre a few days ago of 40 Didinga villagers, most of them women, by suspected gunmen from one of their neighboring tribes.
I seize this opportunity to warn the perpetrators of those barbaric acts that the Government of Southern Sudan will not tolerate such behaviors in the midst of our communities. Our primary duty is to protect the lives and properties of our people. And as such, while visiting the states I directed the respective governors to the effect that any insecurity problems caused by members of the local population must be addressed promptly and with the involvement of local chiefs, traditional leaders, churches and local government authorities with the view to finding permanent solutions to the underlying problems within our communities throughout Southern Sudan.
The integration of SSDF forces, as per the Juba Declaration of January 2006, has now entered the final stages. I believe you are all aware that in my capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA I recently commissioned seventeen officers at the rank of major-general. Officers at other ranks will soon be commissioned.
Despite reports of sporadic attacks on our civil population in both Eastern and Western Equatoria by elements of LRA, the government of Southern Sudan remains firmly committed to mediating the peace process between the Government of Uganda and the LRA. As we speak today, the peace talks that had stalled for more than three months have now resumed in Juba. We are hopeful that this round of talks will lead to a successful conclusion and restore peace not only for Uganda, but also for Southern Sudan’s affected states and the region as a whole.
Mr. Speaker, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Since the signing of the CPA in 2005, the SPLM leadership has maintained a consistent position on the resolution of the issue of Darfur. Due to our being engaged in our own peace process, we were unable to be involved in the earliest attempts at peace making in Darfur. But when we were able to get involved at the seventh round of the talks, our role was appreciated by many parties. Unfortunately, not all the factions signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). Many Darfur factions have splintered and that has made the efforts to bring peace to Darfur more difficult.
I have made several attempts to bring the non-signatory movements on board. I met some of them in Asmara and others in Cairo. In March, I visited Njamena, the capital of Chad, and met some of the leaders of these movements. Through these contacts I have become convinced that SPLM should be involved more closely in bringing the Darfurian Movements together so as to enable us impress upon them the need for unity and reconciliation. The biblical axiom that a house divided against itself cannot stand goes without saying. In this regard I have appointed an envoy and a task force to handle this undertaking. So far contacts have been made with leaders of several factions with the proposal to bring them to Southern Sudan. Many are positive about our initiative and, by the grace of God we hope to bring all these leaders to Juba by the middle of June 2007.
We expect that this initiative will win the support of all the countries interested in peace in Darfur. A few of them have already pledged their support and we hope to see that support translated into tangible action. It is my conviction that in the end it will take political courage rather than military might to resolve the problem of Darfur.
Mr. Speaker, and Honorable Members,
Although the CPA continues to face challenges the SPLM and National Congress Party are determined to resolve the issues of contention. The Joint Leadership Committee (JLC) of the SPLM and NCP has set up an executive sub-committee co-chaired by the Vice President of the Republic Ustaz Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar Teny. Their report will be presented to the JLC on 27th, of this month. As things stand today, the JLC has resolved most of the issues of contention. Only five outstanding issues, including Abyei and the Oil Sector, remain to be resolved. We are optimistic that the JLC will succeed in bringing the gap in our respective positions on these issues.
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In conclusion, I wish to take this opportunity once again to strongly remind this august house that after achieving the CPA the next task and challenge in front of us is that of uniting our people, who have been shattered by the long civil war in our country. This unity must start here with us the leaders and all the constitutional post holders across the board. As Southern Sudanese, our ultimate goal is to serve the interest of the South and its people. Our people, but not our parties’ come first. I have always compared our political parties in the South to foot-ball teams, where by we in the Southern Sudan are members of one family but playing in those foot-ball teams. Whichever team wins, would bring home a trophy for the family.
Lastly, but not the least, I know that a good number of bills are in the pipeline on their way to your august house for deliberation and legislation. I wish you the best of luck, hoping that your first session for the year 2007 would be successful and productive.
Thank you and May the Almighty God bless you all.