The statistical facts of domination in Kiir’s new government

By Gordon Buay

Part one: THE COMPOSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF
THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN

(Announced on 26 August 2011)

Part Two: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FACTS

From the above table, the following facts are clear:

1. The government is huge! Many ministries would have been combined together. For example, the Ministry of Electricity and Dams was unnecessary. The electricity would have been part of the Ministry of Energy and Mining (presently, Petroleum and Mining), and the dams part of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. Also, the Ministry of Environment would have included Forestry and Wildlife Conservation. Again, Transport, Roads and Bridges should have been one ministry.

2. At this initial stage, there was no need for Deputy Ministers. If some were needed, it would have been TWO only; each in the ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs.

3. The same faces are kept in the Cabinet; some maintain their previous portfolios and some are moved to other ministries. Only a few left the Cabinet altogether.

4. The discrepancy in allocating ministerial positions according to States is unmistakeable. The highest getting 11 and the lowest only 2.

5. As there are discrepancies from State to State, the same is true within regions. In Greater Upper Nile region, Jonglei got ministerial positions more than the total for the other two States combined! In Greater Equatoria, Central Equatoria got the same number as the other two states combined. Whereas the number of ministerial positions got by Warrap State is only less by one compared to positions got by the other three States of Greater Bahr El Ghazal combined (Lakes, Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Western Bahr El Ghazal). This is amazing!

6. Two States got 5 ministers each (Jonglei and Central Equatoria); two got 4 each (Warrap and Upper Nile); one got 3 (Western Equatoria); Unity State has none and the remaining four States got two ministers each.

7. It is inexplicable why the Unity State was not allocated a Cabinet Minister.

8. The key ministries (Cabinet Affairs, Defence, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Justice and Finance) went to only three of the ten States ( Warrap, Western Equatoria and Jonglei), each getting TWO ministries. These are the same States which got the highest number of ministerial positions (ministers and deputy ministers).

9. Although Central Equatoria got 5 ministries none of them is a key ministry.

10. Jonglei came at the top getting 11 ministerial positions. However, ten of them went to Nuers and Dinkas; 5 each. The Murle got a Deputy Minister and none went to the Anuaks.

11. Although Warrap State came second by getting 9 ministerial positions, this is misleading. Because the President hails from there, as well as the Chief of Internal Security, the Chief Justice and the Governor of the Central Bank.

12. In Upper Nile State, 4 ministerial positions are from the SPLM (TWO ministers and a Deputy Minister went to the Shilluks and ONE to the Dinkas). The SPLM never nominated anybody for a ministerial position from the Nuers (Jikany) who form the majority population in the State. Only the minister nominated by UDSF-M is a Nuer.

13. From the ethnic point of view, the following facts emerge: Five (5) tribes only form 71% of the ministerial positions; of this the Dinkas form 41% and the Nuers 14%. The Dinkas and the Nuers combined form 55% (The Dinkas are almost three times more than the Nuers). These facts show that it is a long way to inclusiveness.

14. Except for the Ministry of Justice, any key ministry not occupied by a Dinka has a Deputy Minister from the Dinka tribe. The ministries are: Defence, Interior and Finance.

Part Three: CONCLUSION

The people of South Sudan should not be fooled that the government announced on August, 26, was a government of national unity as some quarters would want us to believe. The facts above speak for themselves and the conclusion is obvious; domination and marginalization of the worst kind. Furthermore, what appears like a semblance of regional balance in the allocation of key ministries is deceptive if we look deep beyond the surface. It is a well calculated move to take us for a ride. For those who are not aware of political games behind the formation of the post-independent government, it is important for them to know that it was designed at the residence of Salva Mathok Gengdit on August, 23rd.

In the meeting at Salva Mathok’s residence, the military and political elites of Warrap State agreed that Warrap would dominate the government to protect itself from people who want to hijack their leadership. They identified three enemies of Warrap’s leadership in South Sudan. The first group of enemies is composed of non-Dinka; the second group is political elites of Dinka Bor and the third group is composed of Aweil’s political and military elites who are disappointed with the way Aweil is marginalized under Salva Kiir’s regime.

The elites of Warrap identified Dinka Bor as the second group of enemies of Salva Kiir`s regime. People can see that despite the appointment of Michael Makwei Lueth, Majak Agot and Atem Yak, Dinka Bor are marginalized in this new cabinet. The best educated Dinka Bor are left out of this government because they cannot support the continuation of corruption. One could argue that Dr. Majak Agot is demoted to become the deputy minister as a way to keep him close because the Warrap`s elites accused him long time ago of having plans to overthrow Kiir`s government. If qualification matters, Dr. Majak Agot could have been appointed as a Minister of Finance given the fact that his PhD dissertation was on banking. In terms of economic thinking, there is no comparison between Dr. Majak Agot and Costi Manibe who is a theologian all his life.

One should not go far to realize the Warrap`s conspiracy against Dinka Bor other than the removal of Elijah Malok Aleng, who was replaced by Kornelio Koryom whom he once dismissed because of corruption. Most importantly, Koryom is a retiree who retired from Sudan’s central Bank in 2005. He was brought to South Sudan to become the Deputy of Elijah Malok Aleng to facilitate corruption. He personally clashed with Malok many times because he facilitated transactions which violated rules of the Bank in order to embezzle the money of the people of South Sudan. Most people in Juba know how corrupt Koryom is but he was retained as the Chairman of South Sudan Bank to safeguard the interests of Warrap`s elites. Salva Kiir does not want somebody other than a Dinka from Warrap as the Chairman of the Bank in order to hide corruption from public scrutiny. It is preferable if Elijah Malok should have been the Chairman of the Bank of South Sudan because he is a straightforward man who doesn’t like corruption as most Bor elites do.

As we all know, all people of the South from different areas contributed to the liberation of our country. However, it is fair to conclude that Aweil’s contribution surpassed that of Warrap in terms of population. Nobody could deny the sacrifice of the people of Warrap in our liberation struggle. But the point here is that a place like Aweil (Northern Bhar-el-Ghazal) cannot be represented by only two ministers while Warrap has nine full and deputy ministers. This is an insult to our intelligence and commonsense.

On the issue of handling the Equatorian, Nuer and Shilluk’s opposition to Salva Kiir’s rule, Salva Mathok Gengdit came up with a brilliant idea of how to deceive the world that there is a fair representation. The Warrap’s elites decided to give the Minister of National Security to Gen. Oyai Deng Ajak because he is the right person to deal with the Shilluks. As many people may remember, Gen. Oyai Deng was disappointed with Shilluks after losing election in April, 2010. Soon after election, he declared publicly that “the tanks will roll in the Shilluk land” because they didn’t vote for him. It was reported by reliable sources that after losing election, Oyai Deng Ajak persuaded his friends in the SPLA army to punish the entire Shilluk Kingdom as he promised. Indeed, not long after, the Shilluk Kingdom was on fire that created untold suffering to the innocent population and all living things in the Kingdom. As the head of National Security, his job would be to arrest, on the basis of concocted “security reports”, any Shilluk deemed as an opponent of Warrap’s regime. We know the first victims on his list.

On the case of Gen. John Kong Nyuon, he was brought to become the Minister of Defence so that he will be used to fight the Nuer as he did in 1980s when he fought Anyanya II, and Abdalla Chuol in particular who hails from the same area as him. In the meeting at Salva Mathok’s residence, the Warrap’s elites agreed that Lt. Gen. James Hoth Mai would be replaced by Lt. Gen. Pieng Deng Majok as the Chief-of-Staff to consolidate Warrap’s dominance in the army. In this scenario, John Kong Nyuon would be used as a rubber stamp to fight the Nuer’s rebels in Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile states. His appointment, as Warrap’s elites strategized, would divide the Nuer because John Kong is expected to neutralise Greater Fangak Nuer to support Warrap’s government and fight the rest.

The people of Greater Upper Nile should be aware that the appointments of both John Kong Nyuon and Oyay Deng Ajak is a Machiavellian fulfilment of the Arab’s practice well known in the Sudan which states that “Adhrub al Abid bil Abid”, that is, “fight a slave with a slave”.

On the appointment of Alison Magaya as a Minister of Interior, those who are well-versed in politics know that he was appointed to be used. As people should remember, Alison Magaya was part of the National Islamic Front’s Military Council which staged a coup against a democratically elected government in 1989.After the 1989 coup, the NIF appointed him as the military Governor of Greater Equatoria and was responsible for arming the LRA which is now devastating Western Equatoria State. He remained a loyal member of NIF for 21 years when he declared in June, 2011 to have defected to the SPLM simply because he was for the first time dropped from the NCP’s Cabinet. He is not a man who will stay out of government position!

The Warrap’s elites are aware that Alison Magaya is a man of self-interest and doesn’t care about the welfare of his people. He was indeed appointed to be used against Equatorians for he wouldn’t care a damn about land grabbing in Greater Equatoria. To be used effectively, the Warrap’s elites decided to deputize him with Salva Mathok himself. Based on the mindset of SPLM/A commanders, he could not have been appointed as a Minister of Interior if Warrap’s elites were not convinced that he was a good tool to use. There are many reasons for them to conclude that way. As so many Equatorians are aware, Magaya is a man who prefers his self-interest to the welfare of the nation. As a member of NIF’s Military Command Council, he actively participated in the meetings where policies to torture South Sudanese were designed. In his current capacity as a Minister of Interior, he will not have any problem to execute dirty policies of Salva Mathok Gengdit to punish any Equatorian who dares to question land grabbing by Warrap’s elites.

As to Kosti Manibe, he is just an errand boy who will do anything the cabal tells him to do. Having lost the April 2010 elections to Dr Richard K. Mulla, he owes a lot to the Gogrial elite. Therefore, anybody who thinks there will be a change in the Ministry of Finance is a day-dreamer.

Another thing the people of South Sudan should know is that the main objective of forming the new government is to perpetuate corruption, dictatorship and ethnic domination. To do that, the Warrap`s elites utilized Machiavellian politics of aligning themselves with the devil. One crucial example is the accommodation of NCP in the new cabinet. Agnes Lukudu, who is the Deputy Chairperson of NCP Party in the South, is given the Ministry of Transport because the NCP agreed to work with SPLM to consolidate dictatorship in South Sudan. Seventeen South Sudan political parties which rejected the interim transitional constitution are not included in the new cabinet because they refused to exchange the rights of the people of the South with positions. The Warrap`s elites want parties which are submissive to SPLM`s dictatorship and cannot question centralization and corruption taking place in South Sudan.

If politics of principle were to govern Warrap`s elites, they couldn’t have accommodated NCP in the new government. It is an insult to the intelligence of the people of South Sudan that Salva Kiir could prefer working with NCP to accommodating South Sudan parties whose loyalties is towards the South. Agnes Lukudu voted for unity in January referendum and she is now the darling of Salva Kiir Mayardit because she agreed to serve a new master that replaced Omer Bashir. With the accommodation of NCP in this government, the people of South Sudan are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Warrap`s elites are bent towards forming a permanent dictatorship and corruption in South Sudan.

To sum up, there is no doubt that this government announced on 26th instant does not deviate from the former ones. Certainly, we have replaced Arab’s domination by Warrap’s. In addition, the Warrap`s elites under Salva Mathok have inherited the colonial “divide-and-rule” policy which they are bent on applying with rigour on any dissenting voice in the South. I hope I am wrong but I fear I am right!

The author is a former Secretary General of South Sudan Democratic Front (SSDF). He can be reached at [email protected]