The first think-tank in an independent South Sudan
By Zechariah Manyok Biar
January 27, 2012 — I have been too busy to fulfill my promise to the nation that I was going to write some articles as part of an article I wrote some weeks ago about the reduction of tribal conflicts in South Sudan. I was busy with the preparation for the launching of the Center for Strategic Analyses and Research (C-SAR) that took place on January 24-25, 2012. I will now write something about the think-tank before turning to my promise next week.
The Republic of South Sudan was born less than seven months ago and is faced with many challenges that resemble the challenges faced during the civil war between the North and the South of Sudan. The difference between then and now is that people now believe that they are in a free country that should deliver services as opposed to the time that people were struggling with liberation while hoping for future happiness in a free country.
But in reality, South Sudan is not yet free from war. The tension between the Sudan and South Sudan are very high, the “dissatisfied” South Sudanese are still rebelling against the Government, cattle rustling and its results are becoming disastrous in states like Jonglei, among other challenges. These tribal conflicts and the threat of war between Sudan and South Sudan are threatening to development in both countries as witnessed few days ago by the closure of oil production in South Sudan.
The economic decline and the lack of developmental activities that meet the expectations of the citizens will lead to frustration in many rural communities, increasing tribal conflicts. It is for this reason that the C-SAR is founded to try to contribute experimentally based recommendations to help both the law-makers and the law-implementers make informed decisions in their efforts to try to solve pressing problems in the country.
There are four main deliverables for the think-tank to work on in 2012: a) a fragility analysis with focus on security, b) budget analysis and allocation of public resources, c) statistics/data collection and analysis (with the NBS), and d) capacity and ideological building with focus on strengthening consensus within different political parties in South Sudan.
The two keynote speakers during the launching of C-SAR, Prof. Paul Collier of Oxford University and Dr. Shantayanan Deverajan (former professor of Economics at Harvard University and the current World Bank Chief Economist for Africa Region) stressed the need for the importance of keeping citizens informed about what their government is doing. Politicians should take this advice seriously during this time of crises and thereafter.
The keynote speakers and the panelists agreed that the current crises are great opportunities for positive changes in how government activities are run in South Sudan. The crises will help us consider using our other resources, including the collection of taxes. Taxes will then give the taxpayers the rights to know how their money is spent by the government, increasing accountability in all our institutions.
Our citizens, as Prof. Collier puts it, should not sit idle and see other people build the nation for them. Our pride for our younger generation would be to tell them that our fathers and some of us liberated the country and we built it. The building of the nation needs the involvement of every citizens and that means developing positive work attitudes towards every area of work, not only government offices. We should be ashamed when other people are taking care of us while we are able to do any available work.
If many South Sudanese are working, they will be able to take care of their families and pay taxes that would give them the unquestionable rights of holding leaders accountable in how they deliver services to the citizens.
The work of the government is to make sure that every institution and business operating in South Sudan creates jobs for our citizens, ranging from managerial positions to cleaners’ positions. Politicians should often campaign in their constituencies on the importance of doing all jobs and the paying of taxes. The only bad thing is to be jobless, not being a taxi driver or a car-washer.
The C-SAR and the institutions of higher education here in South Sudan will work together to keep the politicians informed about the existing problems and their possible solutions. This can be done through research, surveys, opinion polls, among other methods.
It is important for our legislators to start making informed decisions and then educate the public on those decisions. It is not enough to have good laws on our shelves, it vital to have these laws implemented by informed citizens. That is why we will start thinking hard on our own like the rest of the world in the 21st century.
Zechariah Manyok Biar lives in Juba, Republic of South Sudan. He can be reached at [email protected]