South Sudan needs statesmen, not succession seekers

 By Bil Riar*

Photo: Courtesy of the author's Facebook account

While President Salva Kiir is outside the country receiving medical treatment, South Sudan should be asking itself a much bigger question: Why does the absence of one man immediately create a race among others to position themselves for power?

Is leadership in South Sudan truly about serving the Republic, or has it become a competition over who will inherit the seat of power?

If every time the President leaves the country, individuals begin calculating how they can take over, then we must ask ourselves whether we have built a government based on institutions—or one based on personalities.

 President Kiir has spent decades at the center of South Sudan's political system. Whether one agrees with his leadership or not, the reality is that he has often had to manage competing political, military, and personal interests around him.

 But there is a lesson for everyone around him: A leader who constantly fears betrayal will never fully trust those who appear more interested in his position than in the survival of the Republic.

And that is where today's leaders must look at themselves.

 Instead of asking, “When can I take over?”, every responsible leader should be asking: “What can I do today to make South Sudan stronger when the current President is no longer in office?”

That is the difference between a politician and a statesman.

 South Sudan does not need men who become courageous only when the President is absent. It needs men and women who can think independently, govern responsibly, and defend the constitutional order regardless of who is sitting in J1 [Juba 1].

And this message should not be reduced to Warrap, to Jieeng leadership, or to any particular community.

This is a national question.

 No tribe should be blamed for the failures of individual politicians. No community should be treated as the property of one political faction. South Sudan belongs to all its citizens.

 If the current generation truly wants to leave a legacy, then it must stop thinking only about who will replace Kiir and start thinking about what kind of country will exist after Kiir.

Power is temporary.

The Republic is permanent.

The chair in J1 is not the destiny of South Sudan. South Sudan itself is the destiny.

So let every leader ask himself or herself honestly: If tomorrow I am given the highest office in the land, do I have the vision to unite the country, the courage to protect its people, and the humility to serve rather than rule?

If the answer is "no", then the ambition to take over should end today.

 South Sudan does not need another race for the chair. It needs a generation of statesmen capable of carrying the nation beyond the personalities of its current leaders.

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*Comrade Bil Riar, Son of Warrap State.

Editorial Note: The views expressed in this article belong solely to the author and not TPR. 

The dangers of uncritical ethnic allegiance

 

Photo: Mercy Corps

By the Editor

In this address at the 39th Ordinary meeting of African heads of state, President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan pledged to restore peace to South Sudan.

This is going to be a tall order. The president has been making similar pledges for the last decade. Yet peace remains illusive for the people of South Sudan. What we witness today is the withdrawal into ethnic bases. This is putting civilians and the country at risk. Northern Jonglei State has become a battle ground. Civilians have been displaced, some killed.

But it all begins with the political elite.

But South Sudanese civilians have been caught up in the middle of a war with which they have nothing. Elite start their disagreement over power and political ambitions but then end up passing the suffering to the people. Elite don't suffer the consequences of their actions. They benefit from it. This is South Sudan.

Yet, the very people who are affected by elite selfish actions still stand by these elite. Why? In-group bias as a function of ethnic belonging. Civilians will support political leaders from ethnic group even when these leaders do absolutely nothing for the people. This is the case even when these leaders have in the past put them at risk.

South Sudanese elite therefore stir up the crisis knowing that they will bank on their ethnic basis as a default position. They don't have to say or do anything for their ethnic groups to support them. Political differences among the elite is therefore transformed wittily into an ethnic problem and then to a survivalist issue. "Support us or tribe X will exterminates you!" 

Peace will therefore remain illusive unless South Sudanese unite across ethnic lines. 

In my recent conversation with Dr. Gatluak Thach, two issues emerged. Signing another peace agreement with President Kiir will be tricky because the president has shown that he's not interested in respecting any agreement. On the other hand, war is also not an option. It leads to more suffering and death. It also allows President Kiir, who has turned the country into an authoritarian system, to re-entrench himself. 

Peace and war are therefore both difficult, though not impossible. 

But the most important solution is for the people of South Sudan to stare realizing that the problem is not the people themselves. Tribes are not the problem. Leaders using tribe to gain support are the problem. They should therefore start rejecting leaders who turn South Sudanese against each other.