Opponents of South Sudan Draft Constitution must give us a break!

By Isaiah Abraham

May 19, 2011 — I must state first here that opponents of the South Sudan Draft Transitional Constitutional ought to give a break to whining each passing moment in our political journey, especially after this period when we almost settling. They must read the document again, think through why each clause was drafted that way before they embark on a hullabaloo to discredit the government the parties that drafted the Constitution. Everyone thought we have graduated from small politics of ‘unless it done by my man or women’ that whatever must be rejected and criticize.

Reading through the minds of the so-called opposition groups, we have unfortunate and wasted youths, tired so-called politicians (they proudly called themselves opposition groups/parties) when in fact they are busy bodies only after the down fall of the people of Southern Sudan. Their future from day one has all but about sabotage and conspiracy against the people of the Southern Sudan. Please opponents of our people pause and allow us to celebrate the independence of our nation with full joy.

The President of South Sudan His Excellency Lt. Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit must be a happy man like me by having a caliber such as Hon. John Luk Joak in the capacity of an Attorney General for the Southern Government. His efforts along with his technical team have produced one magnificent document (known as Draft Transitional Constitution) of all times. Our leader Kiir has indeed come out of age; he has talented men and women in his cabinet, we should be proud of their dedication for their services to the people.

Mr. John, will be remembered fondly for having crafted a perfect constitutional ‘revolution’ within national legal framework. By then in 2005 some of us were ardent opponents of the Interim Southern Constitution due to its loud silence on cohesion of our diverse social setups. Mr. Luke and his team in the just about to be pass Draft to the Legislators have proposed damn legal infusion that will pay off in twenty or so years to come. But in one word about the Draft, the document is a blend of all, and has series of legal promises and dictates that are very appealing to our deeply rooted social problems.

Of course constitutional precepts are about generalities, and grand policies on how we want to look like. To fine tune grand ideas one must break them bits to arrive at the nitty-gritty of each line. But the process isn’t always rosy; it takes years and centuries as stakeholders would love to see their interests written and respected. In our case we were lucky to have a committed team, men whose focus is the Southern public not just political parties they represent. Today we have a Draft short comings notwithstanding, we should be proud and thanks our brothers and sisters for a job well done!

But Mr. John went away with bruises as he wrestled out the document from opportunists and pretenders. He still being demonized for ‘sins’ not of his own. He was after the future of his people, nothing more. The physician turned politician named as Justine Ambago in particular has poked his ugly mind into personal life of Mr. Luke; the man fumes and wrenches at Luke individual political life, as if Hon. Luke was personally dictating terms and references passage by passage and chapter by chapter. He called him names and end up cursing the SPLM as a whole and then infer the leader of that party in a more subtle manner. Before him was Mr. Lupai, an agriculturist and the boy from America whose world is around Nuer, Nuer and only Nuer. We don’t need to have ethnic urge itching their way to our constitution, that card is outdated and must be shunned by men with this land in their hearts.

Though the Draft is meant to take care of the Transition Period leading to election in 2015, the prospects of doing it away after that Period are indeed nil. The Draft will be refined and will continue on its current status with little touches on peripheral matters. This is a living fact! It might not be 100% perfect, but this author believes strongly that we have just started on a right footing

I have been dreaming about Mogga becoming a Commissioner in Maiwot County and Gatkuoth becoming a minister in Western Bahr El Ghazal State. Our current Draft will surely make this happen in few years to come, something decentralization or federation won’t do. On the contrary, decentralization would have thrown this beautiful land to endless crisis of ‘mine’ vs ‘his’, ‘this region’ against ‘these people’. In fact is not about decentralization or unitary system of governance that matters but how does each system work for a common good of an ordinary man or women. Federalism in our social context (diversity) in a third world country is a bad system; it must be allowed to die slowly! Devolution on the other hand, closer to decentralization is more of a shared responsibilities and not necessarily semi-autonomous under federalism. We have chosen to have half federalism and half unitarily.

But the noise about Presidential powers in the Draft or decentralization quest is just pretext and nothing else. First our president needs to be empowered because we are slowly slipping to anarchy, that piece of the law is necessary, at our status! Mr. Kiir, at least for the next two years, must be mandated to restore an ensued chaos caused by rebellion by our own sons. Mr. Kiir and Dr Machar or others behind them are matured and I for one trust their leadership skills. The fear about abuse of power by these men will not arise. You may call them dictators but that will not make them dictators. For the past few years, we have tested them, and know who they are; they behaved decently despite our too much demands on our side

The so-called opposition groups have no right to cry wolf about being ignored; it was them who walked out during the discussion of the Draft when the period they thought could have been 1 year was rejected on a sound ground of logistical and financial implications of going for another election so soon. They had hoped of staging another coming back from the seats they have lost badly to their opponents currently in Parliaments. They must shut up and owned the process irrespective of gray areas they seem improper. After all constitution isn’t a panacea to every socio-political and economic problems.

Secondly, the opposition groups were yearning for sharing of power with the SPLM party something I believe would have been absurd on the side of the SPLM if they had accepted it. Sharing of power? For what basis can the SPLM share power with those that lost election fairly and squarely? They lost election and if they want to come back, they should wait the next turn and do the necessary preparation to punch afresh. For now the game is over, the people of the South are sick of bickering by small section of our society when the majority has decided to give the SPLM the benefit of doubt. They might be corrupt and govern poorly, but the same people have guided our land to its desired destination. We need to appreciate one another and stop pulling one another down just because my uncle or tribesman isn’t a president.

I still have trust in the wise leadership of Kiir-Machar; let us cease from insulting them when it is about time to give applause they truly deserved. They human like any of us even if we don’t wish away the ugly habits by some of their tribesmen. We should keep faith in them and do something about our ethnic hatred eating up every time we want to move a step forward. Mr. John and his team have done us pride; the House shouldn’t play politics. Mr. Kiir ought to remember Mr. John and his team in the next government. I prefer going by this ‘dictator’ called Kiir or Machar than someone who changes faces.

Isaiah Abraham writes from Juba; he can be reached at [email protected]