S. Sudan: Where we go wrong
By Zechariah Manyok Biar
December 26, 2012 — In South Sudan, we as leaders know what is good for our people. The problem is that we do not think people are capable of knowing what is good for them. This is shown by the recent statement made by President Salva Kiir in Wau in his support to the decision made by the State Government there to relocate county headquarters from Wau town to Bagari. The President said this as reported by Sudan Tribune: “The cabinet decision was the right choice which the governor has made. It will benefit people in so many ways. It will take services closer to the people.”
Most of us agree that it is very important to take services closer to people. Where I see the problem is that decisions are often made on behalf of the people and they are expected to be happy with them. The cabinet has the right to make a decision, but the representatives of the people (Members of Parliament) must make sure that people are involved in the decision. It is easy to assume that the Government knows what is good for the people when the reality is that people might know what is better for them more than the Government knows.
If people do not know what is good for them because they are less informed, then it is the role of the Government to inform them first on any policy that will affect their lives before implementing it. It does not matter how illiterate citizens are, the Government is their literacy not the exploiter of their illiteracy.
Looking at people negatively when they oppose to some policies is not a best way to govern them. Here in South Sudan, when people express their opposition to the policies enforced on them we always call them rebels as if rebels are bad people. If rebels were bad people, then we are all bad in South Sudan because we were rebels before we became a country. What should be understood is what makes people rebel against the Government not why they are rebels.
After calling for the arrest of those who instigated the demonstrations in Wau, President Kiir asked “legislators to educate their constituents to observe their rights as enshrined in the national transitional constitution.”
This is interesting. President Kiir believes that people must be educated to observe their rights as enshrined in the Constitution. What if the demonstrators in Wau where demonstrating because they have observed Article 36 (1) of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011 which says, “All levels of government shall promote democratic principles and political pluralism, and shall be guided by the principles of decentralization and devolution of power to the people through the appropriate levels of government where they can best manage and direct their affairs.”
The principles of decentralization and devolution of powers means that people are only guided to “best manage and direct their affairs.” If they object to something because they have not understood it, then nobody has the right to force them into doing it. They must be educated slowly until they understand its benefit in order to agree to do it. Is this not the Constitutional right of the people? Who is violating it now?
If the Government really cares about its people in South Sudan, then it should correct the way it makes decisions. It is not enough to know what is best for the people, is also important to know what they think about what you know to be best for them. Calling people rebels because they oppose to policies you force down their throat will not stop them from opposing your policies, regardless of whether these policies are good for them or not.
Zechariah Manyok Biar can be reached at [email protected]