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By Wani Tombe Lako
August 18, 2013 (SSNA) — Sometimes back, before the restructuring and downsizing of the hitherto inflated and ineffectual government of South Sudan (GoSS) by President Kiir, I wrote and published an article, in which, I strongly recommended that, the GoSS ought to be reduced to only eighteen (18) ministries. The committee that carried out this task reduced the GoSS to nineteen (19) ministries, which is brilliant. My suggested restructuring of the ministries did not also differ greatly from that undertaken by the committee tasked with this crucial job.
I also wrote and published an article in which, I raised many issues pertaining to the efficacy and productivity of up to 90% of the Presidential advisors, within the ambit of the GoSS. I said that, the majority of these advisors were waste of temporal and spatial as well as economic/financial resources. I also said that, most of these advisors were there for their personal and group interests and that; they misled the President and created political and other havocs in South Sudan.
In both occasions, I have been accused of all sorts of things, and called all sorts of names. Others alleged that, I am trying very hard to write my way into an advisory position in the GoSS. When the restructuring occurred, others accused me of having an inside information about the restructuring process.
My dear citizens of South Sudan; some of us went to school, and as a result, we attained knowledge, skills, experiences and attitudes, which informed the capacities and abilities; we demonstrate, within the remit of comprehensive human capital of South Sudanese. Why is it unacceptable to others; that, I, as an individual, can produce the same conclusions, arrived at, by a number of men and women, within the remit of this restructuring committee, set up by the GoSS? Is it my fault that these men and women, almost concurred with my intellectual thinking and wishes? On the other hand, and in terms of these Presidential Advisors, am I not being proven right incrementally?
The fact that I am not rubbing shoulders with those in government in Juba, and sipping what is there to be sipped, with them, in all occasions, it does not mean that I am against the GoSS, or the peoples of South Sudan. Nor am I writing all these lengthy articles for my own interests. No. I am as nationalist as anybody who wants to arrogate South Sudanese nationalism to himself or herself.
I politically despise those who claim to be in parliament as opposition parties, and when they are asked for the elucidations of their political programmes, they end up stating that; their programme of action is not different from that of the SPLM. Why call yourself an opposition party then? Some of these so-called opposition parties, and which contain some technocrats, are there for personal constitutional posts only and nothing more.
In fact, some of these men and women, in these nominal opposition parties, confuse being kept in government, forever, due to dubious personal reasons, with agile statesmanship. No; this is not agile statesmanship; this is called politics and economics of elites, and it has nothing to do with peoples’ socio-economic, financial, political, technological, cultural, religious, moral and ethical development in South Sudan.
In further advancement of my honest and nationalistic role, as one concerned South Sudanese technocrat, I strongly recommend the following to the GoSS:-
i. The establishment of The High Authority for Procurement and Liquidation of Government Assets (hereinafter, The HAPLOGA).
ii. The establishment of The High Authority for Social and Rural Development (hereinafter, The HASRUD).
iii. Justifications for the establishment of The HAPLOGA: The HAPLOGA, if properly set up, and supported by the relevant law shall:-
iv. Justifications for the establishment of the HASRUD: The HASRUD shall:-
I hope that, these sincere suggestions are meaningful and sensible enough to be considered in the next phase of the governance of South Sudan. It is obvious that, we need to make use of all our available human resources in the RoSS, regardless of our political colours. Our general concern ought to be the happiness of our people, and our people who are predominantly rural dwellers, and looking up to us for honest guidance and help.
At the moment, we are in need of more human resources with the required knowledge, skills, experiences, and attitude for the general stability of the RoSS. It is also imperative that, we need honest and dedicated individuals to be entrusted with the fiduciary duties of managing the various resources in the RoSS, including the current productive human resources. There is also a profound need for selfless human resources if we are to be able to mobilise our comprehensive resources in the next critical phase of our development journey in the RoSS.
It is my cardinal believes that, while all levels of governance in the RoSS are important, however, more emphasis and inputs ought to be put where productive human resources are found. The economy of the RoSS shall only move positively ahead, if we relentlessly concentrate on value creation. This shall include economic, financial, and all other positive values which entrench comprehensive harmony in our society.
The author is Professor of Social and Rural Development and Lecturer in Laws; and can be reached at [email protected]