South Sudan leaders must now narrow national priorities

By Isaiah Abraham

July 28, 2011 — We have been liberated, thanks to four millions lives lost. The land is finally free, and the challenge now is whether the new nation has carefully identified its national priorities to kick start development and progress. Too much paper work has been done and the obvious dilemma however is whether we have chewed more than what we couldn’t swallow. This is where we are coming in this piece of note.

The leadership in Juba granted never wasted time even before the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 2011. There are ambitious plans about everything ranging from security to capacity building then institutional development, health, agriculture and education. But to these leaders each one (area) is a priority and a must.

Our situation at the moment requires specific but manageable priorities. The ranking of priorities for a new nation is a hangover from our period before a state; and this should have been corrected right away. I could still see security and the Office of the President with fat budgets, an omen indicator that nothing is going to come out from Juba to our people at Lobonok Payam, Chaggari Payam or Akot. Security to this author isn’t anymore a priority, because not every County is affected by violence. Our priorities should change. We have poor road networks across our land and hunger that beat each and every county. Again not every Payam has rebels or shields from bombs. We have a Southern child dying together with mother under complications during child birth. These are real issues.

So what do we do? Well, there is an urged need to make use of our indices for each sector and come up with concrete priorities that fit our socio-economic circumstances. I feel strongly that the army budget has been in the sky (huge) and should be clipped. The public has a feeling that for the past few years, the money sent to the army has ended up in the pockets of generals to build bungalows and educate themselves in South Africa and the likes overseas. The military account books generally are hardly a domain for Auditors and God knows when their accounts will be audited. We are talking here of why it is necessary to slash the army budget in favor of roads, health, education and agriculture.

The Head of State Office moreover has a large budget and often his team overshoots it. We have category in there (in the presidency) named as donations, a bad budget that should not have been allowed by budget planners. Why should our president be allowed to ‘bribe’ his people? Donations after all limit the president from visiting his people. If for example he goes for one visit and dish money and in another with empty hand, he would be unfair to the later. The president is a leader for all. He donates schools, health centers, roads etc not cash.

Let’s tour briefly history about other countries that have succeeded rapidly through clear cut priorities. Singapore until Wee Kiim Wee (Huang Jin Hui) took over in 1985 was classified as poor and struggling, but soon after 1993 when President Wee left the country, that Asian nation leapfrogged even those who then seemed to be powerful economically and socially there. How did he make it where the first president Yusof Bin Ishak failed? The answer lies with proper national examination and careful identification of national direction. At our current political status, we will definitely need another Wee to turn things around for the greater good of South Sudanese. Machar might be another Huang! Freedom or glory isn’t alone enough, it must be translated to what an ordinary man or woman needs in the country.

Malawi next door was plagued by hunger under Presidents Hastings Banda and Bakili Muluzi but Binga Wa Mutharika the current president put the matter to rest once and for all. Hunger there is in the past tense there. Libyan in the North of Africa was also one of the countries that picked up from nowhere to its envious situation, where now the West is laboriously fighting to install a puppet regime that will guarantee their access to Libyan wealth. I see no justification for toppling Libyan Government on the behest of outsiders with vast exterior motives. That country will not be the same but another Somali in the North.

Uganda is believed to be the bread basket for East and Central Africa and the secret is all about what the government did earlier in its strategic plan. The food majority of our people eat in our urban centers come from Uganda despites our similar environmental status.

South Sudan is under difficult times of national planning and somewhere we must learn from the experiences of others. I look forward that our decision makers in Juba take the issue of food for our people as item number one. Second, there has to be enough investment done on our roads, because roads are important infrastructural element of development. Leaders should not waste time going overboard prioritizing everything. One or two things at a time; slowly and there we can move our bars to others. Basic needs first others later (Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs). God bless South Sudan!

Isaiah Abraham writes from Juba; he is on [email protected]