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TASTE OF MONEY AND POWER

BY ELTON JOSHUA ANYANGO.ZURICH SWITZLAND.

South Sudan is one of the most naturally endowed countries in the world that is blessed with diversities of cultures, beautiful landscapes ranging from mountains, the rift valley, the hot springs, the river Nile, millions of barrels of deposited oil, forestry, gold, vast fertile agricultural land and many others natural resources. This God given gift has made our nation, though youngest, with the world’s eyes on her. 

Should the country’s leaders take tangible steps to explore these resources and use the revenue generated and distribute it equitably, should there be transparency in government utilizations of our country's wealth, it would be enough to bring development to all the ten states in a single generation. However this government has shown, it lacks such a national will and that it will take decades to make any positive difference in life of common citizens, just as they poorly prosecuted the struggle for independence, without much united front and in the very same way they are now governing our country, it will take a miracle for South Sudan to develop and make full use of her natural resources to benefit all her citizens.  

Mr. Kiir who has proven to be power hungry and knows very well he doesn't have the quality of leadership to lead the great people of South Sudan and he is inclined to hold onto power forever.  If Mr. President holds on power for long, it will destroy the unity of the people. In my opinion the great people of South Sudan need a visionary and skilful leader to bring stability and good governance that does not discriminate the minority, and does not employ people based on tribal affiliations, rather based on qualifications, irrespective of ethnicity in order for the nation to flourish before and take off developmentally before the current generations die off without ever witnessing the potentials achieved. 

In the current ruled by decree style of government under the leadership of Mr. Kiir, many opportunities to unite the people of Republic of South Sudan were wasted. All the unrest in the country are from his region of the country, specially in Jongolei, Unity State which mostly came after the elections of 2010 as a result of the selections of the candidates based on one party system. Those who think they had the ability to participate in the rehabilitation of our country were excluded from standing on SPLM party tickets. As such, many decided to go on the ticket of independent candidates while others stood on National Islamic Front (NIF) tickets of the Khartoum based ruling party of the day. That was why people like late George Author was convinced he had won the election but since the government could not recognized him as a winner; he resorted into taking arms against Juba. 

What is the end point of such rebellion other than bringing devastation on our already war exhausted people, costing millions of pounds for South Sudan government in addition to millions of dollars spent by United Nations to feed the displaced persons as a result. Juba and Kiir have to learn how to address the issues of the country in a timely and transparent way.  Kirrs’s SPLM has to learn to accept that the great people of South Sudan deserve more than a one party system.  An aspiring and diverse country like ours will not thrive under one party rule.

 To emphasize the tragedy brought on our people through the imposition of this one party policy, let us reexamine the results of the previous election. But first we should ask the following questions:

Did Kiir really win the election in 2010? Or was the 98.8% the general votes the people gave to secession?

I think the two should not be confused. Everyone with clear conscience will agree that the 98.8% was not given to Kiir. That was what the great people of our nation voted for separation. Majority of the people had trusted Kiir because they saw Dr Lam Akol as a candidate advocating for unity with Sudan, therefore, Kiir’s slogan of Separation won their favor. And everyone was misled or knowingly ticked the box for Star which stood for SPLM but not necessarily Kiir himself. 

The fact that people believe it was the 98.8% that brought Kiir into the office is wrong. And the President should not dwell in the past because the forth-coming elections are going to be a referendum on his characters, achievement and failure for the last 8 years of leadership mismanagement. This is going to be the moment for him to know whether he is the man the people need or not. Therefore I think it is about time for the President to know his fate and future. This will be a judgment day and if the President believes that he won the previous election with 98.8 %, let him give it an honest try. This time it would be hard to see the number of voters casting the votes for Mr. Kiir, should the election were to be free and fair. This time around there will be no easy way to convince the Southerners because we are not voting for separations from the north but from him and any other candidates of our choices, not a one campaign trailer of “ ticking the star.”

What is actually killing the spirit of our new nation is the old school generals, majority of whom should have retired and gone home to enjoy the benefits of their sweat than spending time pretending to be working while they are sleeping in the state and national parliaments and the various offices.  Much has changed in today’s world but the mindset of those generals occupying the ministerial posts cannot see this. In fact they are the people instigating hatred by practicing nepotism & tribalism. The Republic of South Sudan is too smart to be rule by these rotten generals.  This nation needs fresh blood. Human resources wise, we are better off today than 2005 when CPA was signed. There are a lot smart intelligent young and educated Southerners to fill the much needed posts in the country.

The other fact that needs to be look at critically is the militias in Unity State, Upper Nile State and Jongolei state just to mention a few. In the recent years it has become clear that the government cannot defeat the militias in battle fields. As such, the only tool available at the disposal of the government in Juba is to convince the militia leaders to lay down the guns and join the government with promise that they will be absorb and be given promotional ranks of Generals of some sort in the army of South Sudan. Or at least a deal package of some sort.

This is very sickening and dragging our country backward, it has been left untackled and this has become the easier way out for the people of the above-mentioned states to seek solutions or attentions. It has become their application letter for jobs and positions in this dictatorial government they themselves produced: rebel against the government in Juba, be given a position in the army of our nation. 

With the population of about 10 million inhabitants one  wonder whether everyone is becoming a military personnel, given the size of South Sudan official army, how many major generals do we need? The president has to be serious to reduce the size of the army into professionals that are manageable so that we have quality army to defend our nation from invaders instead of absorbing uneducated militia leaders  to just give them ranks of Majors, Col.  Major Generals etc.  These businesses have to stop because it is these primitive Generals bringing acts of indiscipline in our national army, is it any wonder then the abuses witnessed against our civilian populations by these undisciplined army? And with all the available Universities across our nation, it is time for government to begin to recruit at senior four leavers at minimum, rather than depending on illiterate generals. Recently in the budget of fiscal year 2014, an amount of 17 billion South Sudanese pounds was approved and about 3.1 billion was allocated for the military budget. This is the single biggest portion of the budget, a lion share compare to what is left for the rest of the ministries.

Though I am not an expert in military affairs of South Sudan, even a blind person can feel what is happening in the Army of South Sudan is misplaced priority. There are many officers from Equatoria who are very good in their work, but year after year no promotion for them, while the junior colleagues from the mentioned unstable states are promoted.  Clearly the Equatorain officers who are well learned, and are not ready to take arms to become rebels simply in order to gain rewards of promotions and positions are left behind instead of being rewarded for practicing civilized manners of citizenship and their people called cowards. Where in the world other than in South Sudan is savagery worshiped, rewarded and promoted over civility?

It is time that the leadership of South Sudan under Kirr look beyond the thin and unproductive line of ethnic loyalties. The spirit of demoting or keeping stagnant people from the other regions while the one side of the volatile and undisciplined region is being promoted is detrimental to our country and was it not this kind of treatment that led to our rebelling against the Arab dominated power in the old Sudan? If we condemned Khartoum because of injustice, oppression, repression, then should we not be doing things differently from them? How are we better than them in treating our own people who now are under our care?

In conclusions its is becoming clearer each day that with a taste of money and power, Kiir and his comrades are devising means to reinvent their favorite milking cow the SPLM in order to hold tightly on to power till death do them apart. Meaning our young potential, ambitious, energetic scholars have to wait until the generals have passed away. By the time this happens the fresh blood themselves would have become old. So what is left for us? Nothing other than the dynasty of the old school, less we the people of this great land assert our democratic voices and reclaim what is rightly ours. My fellow countrymen, no one has given us this great country, for there is no such person or group of persons that could, except for the God of heavens and earth, who granted us our land as a result of our collective desires and sacrifices for Liberty, He the most high have ordain this great land for our forefathers and us, our children and their children. Let us all determine not to rape our country dry to leave misery for the generations to come less we shall be known by them as the generations of thieves and inept leaders.

Author

Elton Joshua Anyango.
Concerned South Sudanese.

Zurich Switzerland.

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