On the Establishment of the National Ministries of the Republic of South Sudan

With this kind and numbers of our national government, one would bet that virtually 99% of oil revenue would go to the salarying of civil servants of the national, states and counties governments and with practically nothing remaining for national development and reconstruction.

By PaanLuel Wel, Washington DC, USA

August 22, 2011 (SSNA) — With the newly-decreed national ministries of the Republic of South Sudan, President Salva Kiir’s last promise of and commitment to appoint a leaner cabinet for his new post-independence government seemed to have been a belated publicity stunt. Instead of the promised lean and broad-based cabinet, the unveiled national ministries hovers around thirty. This is in addition to the already bloated bi-cameral South Sudan National Legislative Assembly numbering about 382, the ten state governments and the expansive counties in the country.

Cost-wisely, it is just puzzling where and how this gigantic white elephant would be funded, and if, at all, there would be any resources left for security and development of the new nation. With this kind and numbers of the national government, one would bet that virtually 99% of oil revenue would go to the salarying of civil servants of the national, state and counties governments.

Numbers aside, it appears some ministries were created just to accommodate certain personalities, not public service delivery. The main troubling aspect of these national ministries is the unnecessary duplications of departments. For instance, it is weird and mind-boggling to see, under separate departments, ministries such as:

(1) Ministry of Roads & Bridges and Ministry of transport

(2) Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Ministry of Communication & Postal services

(3) Ministry of Electricity & Dams and Ministry of Water Resources & Irrigation

(4) Ministry of Defense & Veterans’ Affairs and Ministry of National Security in the office of the President

(5) Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Interior/home affairs

(6) Ministry of Petroleum & Oil and Ministry of Industry & Mining

(7) Ministry of animal resources & fisheries and ministry of agriculture & forestry

(8) Ministry of general/basic education & instruction and Ministry of higher education, science & technology

(9) Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Minister in the Office of the President and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

(10) Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports and Ministry of Gender, Child & Social Welfare

Presidential Decree No. 26/2011: Kiir’s National Ministries of the Republic of South Sudan.

Merging and Elimination of unnecessary Ministries to ensure lean and efficient Government

Some ministries such as the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Minister in the Office of the President, and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs can be entirely eliminated since they add no cash-value to the delivery of goods and services to the public. In their places would be lower level secretaries, but not whole ministries, like Secretary of Cabinet Affairs or in the office of the presidency. We need no Secretary of the Parliamentary Affairs since we already have government Chief-Whip and Clerk in parliament.

Some other National Ministries needed to be integrated and ethnic diversity (Tribocracy) preserved in the forthcoming appointment of the cabinet. Some duplicative ministries can easily be eliminated and effectively merged with others to create a leaner, more effective and better efficient government.

Instead of a bloated cabinet, President Salva Kiir would have done better had he established and announced just the following 19 national ministries for the Republic of South Sudan:

Citizen Decree No. 26/2011: People’s National Ministries of the Republic of South Sudan.

Key: UN = 19 x 35% =7;  BRG = 19 x 33% = 6;  EQ = 19 x 32% = 6

Whether he was misled by his out-of-touch presidential advisors or he overruled them, President Kiir’s latest decree, especially his blatant abrogation of his own promise to the people of South Sudan on a lean and corruption-free cabinet, will only add more deadly ammunition to his fierce critics, many of whom might be celebrating now.

Indeed, in the writings of one Isaiah Abraham of Juba, South Sudan, it may come to pass that “Kiir appointments are disappointments!!”

You can reach PaanLuel Wël at [email protected] (email address), PaanLuel Wel (Facebook page), PaanLuelWel2011 (Twitter account) or through his blog account at: http://paanluelwel2011.wordpress.com//