The rule of law in the independent South Sudan
By Zechariah Manyok Biar
February 8, 2011 — The future sometimes seems far away, but it is often at the door in any situation. It was not long time ago that we were talking about the future of the independent South Sudan, but now that the final results of the referendum have been announced, the future that we were talking about is now current. There will be no excuses for us not to put our system in order now.
My writing about good governance is going to focus on what we need to do now as an independent nation. In this article, we will examine the importance of the respect for the rule of law in the independent South Sudan.
Respect for the rule of law is a very importance element of good governance. The rule of law can be twisted and used as a means of oppressing people in a totalitarian government. We know that African constitutions act as nothing more than symbols in most cases. It is in Kenya now that the new constitution seems to guide the government. It was not long time ago that coup d’état was the commonly used means of obtaining power in many African countries. In such a system, respect for the rule of law is the first victim.
But things are now changing in Africa, and even in the Arab World. Democratic rule is becoming popular and good governance is an important component of democratic rule. In good governance, respect for the rule of law helps citizens predict what is required of them and act accordingly. Many scholars agree that the rule of law means the rule of men through law.
Yet, human beings are human beings. It is not easy for any citizen, including leaders, to respect the rule of law against his or her selfish self-interest unless there is a clear definition of legal procedures and institutional structures. Official actions and declared rules must be consistent. The rules must be coherence and clear.
Not only is it important to have clarity in how one applies a declared rule, it is also important that all citizens be treated equally before the law. In South Sudan, what threatens our legal system is the fact that some people commit a crime and get away with it, while others spend a long time in prison for the same crime. A system like this gives people an indirect license to take the law into their own hands.
If a leader accused of corruption is released by force by those loyal to him or her (as has happened in the last five years here in Juba) and nothing is done about it, then who would not have defenders when accused of the same crime next time. If every leader accused of wrongdoing would then be relying on his/her loyalists or relatives to defend him or her unlawfully, then where would the rule of law be? For the rule of law to work, everybody must be answerable to the system on equal bases.
Equality before the law means that everybody who commits a particular crime gets a sentence mentioned in the Penal Code for such a crime, regardless of where he or she belongs. A law that is made to benefit a particular society or a particular class of people in society and disadvantages others is a bad law. If we have such a law in our current system (even when it is not in a written form like the defending of wrongdoers by relatives), then it should be discouraged.
A system where some people break the law and no action is taken against them produces social values, norms, attitudes, or practices that are often inhospitable to even a limited conception of the rule of law. Mariana Mota Prado in an article entitled, “The Paradox of Rule of Law Reforms: How Early Reforms Can Create Obstacles to Future Ones” argues that “Groups of interests will resist reforms that eliminate their privileges, do not foster their interests, or do not offer them any gains.”
Strong groups of interests now a day in Southern Sudan are family members and other relatives. They bemoan the lack of the rule of law when their interests are at stake, but they support lawlessness when their interests are putting the interests of other groups at stake. This double standard must stop if the rule of law is to function well in the independent South Sudan.
In conclusion, our leaders must follow the law and apply it consistently without favoritism, even when the law-breaker is a member of their immediate family. That is what good governance is all about.
Zechariah Manyok Biar, BA. Edu., MACM, MSSW. He can be reached at [email protected]
Deng Francis
The rule of law in the independent South Sudan
Dear brother Zechariah,
Thank you for the well articulated article. In fact, rule of law and good governance etc are central pillars of democracy, in which a truly democratic society must embrace and cherish.
Let us hope things will change in the emerging new nation of South Sudan from the current state of affairs, where the rule of law is just a lip-service. I like reading your articles because you are always holding to the truth and not covering things out of fear or whatever!
Please continue being truthful……and always be the light where there is no light.
God bless you.
Deng Riek Khoryoam, South Sudan.
Machingela gai
The rule of law in the independent South Sudan
Biar,
I agree with you and everything you said. I hope that all Southern tribes take this simple article by hearts.
Good government is founded through social contract where moral rights of the state and individual’s rights are differentiated. There are some rules that need no individual interference when they are executed by the government, and at the same government shall not go beyond individual’s rights within the law. The state must always take upper hand in exercising law to the fullest while allowing people to assume their natural granted rights within the governing system. But self-interest from certain individuals canot over weight state’s powers although they are part of that functioning government. Class power and egoism from any tribe drives these bizarre acts, and should be downsized by the law in taking its best course. Our collective identity must be found within the law we respect most but not in the estimation made by the class to defend their social networking when they come short by abusing state power. There is no good government on earth without its citizens being loyal to it. Southern people need to embrace the power of law and give their little mindset no more chance to mislead them. Our new state will take a good course when we accept rule of law in place. Good insight articale.
Facts Check
The rule of law in the independent South Sudan
The problem with most of our leaders is that they have become politicians first then nationalist second. They will never carry out a law if it will affect their political aspiration. Like the Anti-Corruption will never prosecute because the corruptees are the one who employ them.
In juba motorcycles are killed everyday be some big people who are learning how to drive but they do get punish as they simply pay their way out. Paying money is not a punishment. Does a million feel the pain of paying 30,000 pounds for killing someone? I doubt!
Be bless
Joseph Milla Simon
The rule of law in the independent South Sudan
You have hit it and I hope whoever is incharge of this docate is borrowing a lift from this article.
Indeed all of us have learnt a lot and tolarated enough during the past five years. Initially those who call themselves more revolutionaries than others, who themselves need to be liberated from ignorance, brought with them jungle laws as a substitute of the real rule of law. This jungle law resulted to what you have stated and I quoate;
“If a leader accused of corruption is released by force by those loyal to him or her (as has happened in the last five years here in Juba) and nothing is done about it, then who would not have defenders when accused of the same crime next time. If every leader accused of wrongdoing would then be relying on his/her loyalists or relatives to defend him or her unlawfully, then where would the rule of law be? For the rule of law to work, everybody must be answerable to the system on equal bases”.
The above quotation is one of the ingredient of many crimes commited by those doom liberation perfectionist who know nothing as regard the definition of a liberator than looting the nation and its people. They have become the cause of object poverty of the people of Southern Sudan.
One wonder to how a mere office manager can erect a storage building plus a vehilce called Harmer in a period of less than 5 years!!!!. When you look at the pay role of that person and compare to what has happen then you know how to conblude it.
For the past five years we have been asking ourselves questions like; why did we fight all these years if the result is to break laws? Why did we cry then that somebody sat on us for all these years of our struggle if we prove ourselves to be more corrupt than our dictators?
These questions are yet to be answered by somedody somewhere one day one time. What is important now is to get the new nation and embark on real reform or else Southern Sudan will be among the list of Countries who defaulted Democracy and then the masses will borrow a lift from Tunisia and Egypt.