South Sudanese ministers need to wake up. Seriously! Their timidity has destroyed the country. Treating President Kiir like a scary, unquestionable monster is a disservice to President Kiir himself and the people of South Sudan, especially the youth. Their future is being mortgaged. We should not conflate fearing the president with respect.
South Sudanese
ministers either do not know about intra and inter-ministerial protocols, or
they simply do not care about them. What the minister of cabinet affairs, Dr. Martin
Elia Lomuro, said recently during a parliamentary
summon on June 6, 2024, typifies this.
“If the present
decides and direct payments as an executive head,” he said, “do I have the
power…to change? I don’t have.” Of
course he has.
The failure to
adhere strictly to procurement protocols may be the reason why South Sudanese go
for months
without being paid. When will the ministers start to prioritize adherence
to protocols over personality cult and elitist politico-economic cabals? Is the
South Sudanese cabinet a cartel? This is the threat to human rights and social
justice in South Sudan.
It is now nearly
a decade and a half since South Sudan became independent, but these simple
institutional protocols are not being adhered to. Who is to blame here? That
“we are still a young country” is a scapegoat that has escaped into the
sovereignty forest. It is time for service provision.
That the
president is the head of the executive branch of government means absolutely
nothing if he breaks protocols. This is
where the ministers have the authority. President Kiir cannot, and I repeat,
cannot, order a minister to violate the law or break protocols if the president
has decided to re-direct payments to shady “special projects?” A minister can say “no” to the president if
the law does not allow the president to order the minister. The president
supervises the cabinet, but he does not, and should not, run the ministries. He
has no authority to re-direct funds away from their allocated ministries unless
the cabinet agrees as a collective.
President Kiir
is not a monarch. He is a president of a republic. At least I want to believe
that. And the sooner ministers start to
tell him, “No, Mr. President, that is against protocol and the constitution”
the better things will improve for South Sudanese civilians. And this can only
be done by the ministers. They have the authority to defy the president within
the law and protocol.
But I am afraid
Dr. Lumoro’s response to parliament is reenforcing what some of us have been
saying for decades: President Kiir is South Sudan and South Sudan is President
Kiir. That is tragic. Lomuro’s doubling-down a few days later, that he was taken
out of context, makes the president even appear more monstrous. He retracted
the truth he told parliament because he is afraid. Is President Kiir this
scary?
What Dr. Lomuro
should have added during his response to the parliamentary committee are the
procurement protocols that, if they exist, allow the president to “direct
payments.” The president does not have
his own laws from which he draws to re-direct payments for “special
projects.” “Special projects” like the
one that directed 10
million away from peace implementation to the office of the president are cliched
political euphemisms for corrupt practices.
But I know that
South Sudan is not a democracy. Almost everyone, tragically, serves at the
mercy of the president. The president has become the employer-in-chief. This is
a threat to national security, democratization, and the economic prosperity of
South Sudan.
It is obvious
that telling the President of South Sudan he is wrong may lead to an official
being decreed-out of office, or even worse. I am not oblivious. This has been
the case even when the official is right. But change must begin somewhere. Dr.
Lumoro either does not know he has the authority, a state of affair that would
be tragic, or he is just afraid of the president. No one wants to bell the cat.
Yes, Dr. Lumoro has the power. His power are the law and institutional protocols because South Sudan is not France of Louis XVI or England of Henry VIII. Or is it? He can say “no” and take exculpatory refuge in the law and procurement protocols. Otherwise, he is telling us President Kiir is an autocrat who cannot be questioned. Is this what the good minister is telling us without telling us?
It may be time
to start showing the president how to follow the law and respect institutional
protocols. He supervises the ministries; he does not run them. Saying “no” to
President Kiir is a show of respect and the integrity of the administrations he
leads. This is what the youth of South Sudan expect from you.
___________________
Dr. Kuir ë
Garang (PhD) is the editor of TPR Twitter/X handle: @kuirthiy;
email: kuirthiy@yahoo.com
