By Deng Mangok Ayuel
June 20, 2013 (SSNA) — When a father has big-hearted sons and daughters, he may sometimes remain in dilemma for whom to blame since everyone is doing bad things in his eyes. President Salva Kiir knows where his cabinet members have gone wrongly. As the ruling party’s chairman, he kept encouraging his party members to deliver services to people of South Sudan. He has enough inform of what you are doing!
President Kiir in his own words as I quoted, “we fought for freedom, justice and equality, yet, once we got to power, we forgot what we fought for and began to enrich ourselves at the expense of our people{South Sudan Nation online quotations}.”The war on corruption has started and started my dear comrades. There are times when a father closes his eyes to beat and chase away his good son who usually milk for him his especial cow in the house. I am not declaring that Mr. Kosti Manibe and Deng Alor are sacked or legally probed corrupt. Is it too late for president to started suspending ministers? I am happy but feared to say “congratulation” to Mr. President; I shall be quoted against someone who has wronged the nation because our people are currently fighting with truth. Finally, thank you Mr. President for your decision!
When money got lost in the president’s office, citizens were truly furious and blamed their own sons for being evil to themselves. By the way, should those who are presidential aides and guards claim that the money was stolen by visitors to the president? Many South Sudanese, nearly all of us spent over 20 years without salaries or banked nothing but that shouldn’t cause greed for cash to get rich. The president has started sacking individuals after they filched money from his office. Do the high ranked officials think that the president will not remove his hat one day and say one word in many, “you are suspended…?”
The cash adventure and the nature of individuals in the ministry of finance are frustrating the nation. Sometimes back, the internal reshuffling was done in the ministry of finance leaving others out of the system and now the minister lifted his immunity. Former Finance Minster Mr. Akuein Chol was detained in 2007 but said to have been removed from detention by his people from Aweil but had wrestled with Pagan Amum over millions of dollars financed to party. However, Akuein have had hauled Mr. Amum until the case evaporated invincibly. He {Akuein} seemingly cleared himself. Today, Akuein may laugh at Alor and Manibe due to huge accountability over dollars.
If the money was not authorized by the president, other designated senior official, should the ministry of finance transfer the money to company’s account without authorization? And if the money is found authorized by the vice president, for instance, but failed to inform the president, should he also be suspended? Besides, the governor of the central bank or senior officials in the bank or the bank itself where transfer was made might has copies of the financial transaction and must be questioned also for transferring money without authorized documents. Yeah, bankers can’t give money without proper financial papers if it wasn’t a deal.
I confused to why some government officials blame the government they serve than striving for change. I wish President Kiir should keep an eye on the officials who usually criticize the government and get them sacked if refused doing their work and started blaming the government. Professor Nyamlel once said that “the system is rotten to core” but sacked after found criticizing the government. Why criticize the system than making it better? I don’t mind of what Alor and Manibe were trying to buy with the money, but who signed the financial documents? The reality is, when people have served in the government for a quite long time, they may think of doing something big and better for themselves and their children than the nation.
On the other hand, our leaders should be committed in their doings and willing to work for the welfare of the ordinary citizens. If there is a person who can’t afford a meal in the country that force him/her to beg on the street and there are others who are very rich in the same country but still trying to stash the public money, so what will ordinary citizens say about these people? Is it cleverness, greediness or there are people who wish to own the government and its finances as compensations?
Public money in South Sudanese seems to be like holy water where everyone helps himself with it. I wondered when villagers with their briefcase companies tripped to Juba and after a month, some of them used to come back with new cars and huge amount of money in 2008. What did these innocent villagers do to deserve money and cars? Was it a bloody deal between the ministry concerned and the local companies’ owners?
South Sudanese money is like Ugandan music where everyone in East Africa dances to forget of being alive but unable to compose its tunes. The kostization of millions of dollars into alorization of fire safes business than buying food for the starved families in Jonglei and Torit is the worst exertion done by the ministers if probed guilty of transgression. Let’s hope it was a dream – and that the money is in the safe hand to be returned to the government very soon after the investigation.
Deng Mangok Ayuel lives in Aweil. He can be reached via [email protected]