Whimsical Decision Making and a Dysfunctional Political Party

By Kuir Garang (Website Editor)

Dr. John Garang and Mr. Salva Kiir

I was never a fan of late Dr. John Garang but, on principle, I admired one quality in him: extensive reading and autodidactic attitude. Comfortingly enough, he read and referenced issues and facts he postulated and argued for or about. This is a quality, among other things, officials in Juba should adopt. SPLM and the GOSS should also know that any institution is governed by behavioral and information dissemination protocols. People should not talk anyhow…or because they ‘feel’ it’s right. It might feel right but facts might go contrary to that feel-good-ness.

Face value application (or violation) of the constitution and out of context utterance of statements such as ‘it’s a normal democratic process’ don’t do justice to the already jittery nation. We still have an unconstitutional governor in Lake State and the president knows that’s a clear violation of the constitution’s sixty-day (60) requirement. Taban Deng Gai was removed unconstitutionally because we know there is no crisis in Unity State.

What the president and South Sudanese need to realize is that section (101r) doesn’t only say there just has to be a crisis in the state. The crisis has to be one threatening ‘national security and territorial Integrity’. If the crisis is not threatening national security then citing such a crisis becomes unconstitutional. Jonglei State is the state whose crisis is threatening national security and territorial integrity but the governor is still there.

The president’s actions are just whimsical rather than constitutional!

The onus in on the president to, therefore, explain how the ‘crisis’, if any, in the Lake State or Unity State, threaten our ‘national security and territorial integrity’. In essence, the president is ruling a nation of people not a nation of cows. People need to know. Abdon Agau, the government secretary-general told the media that president Kiir can fire the cabinet by giving any reasons; arguing that it’s his ‘constitution right’ not to give explanations! What? It’s supposed to be a ‘national constitution’ not ‘whimsical presidential constitution.’

Mr. President should know that he’s a servant of South Sudanese, not their boss. He’s only the boss of his cabinet; not South Sudanese. Ideally, the president has to justify his actions to the South Sudanese people because his decisions directly affect the average citizen. Make no mistake, president Kiir should account to US as South Sudan. We employed him not the other way round.

Officials like the always-in-your-face Marial Benjamin (while I know he has improved lately) have the knack of talking without checking their facts. This is indeed scary for South Sudan’s future. Besides, both the SPLM and the government of South Sudan don’t adhere to functionality protocols. This is the source of the problem within SPLM.

There’s nothing ‘democratic’ about firing a cabinet. Just because something is constitutional doesn’t mean it’s democratic. Actions of individuals can’t be called democratic even if they are clearly constitutional. Constitutional actions are necessary undemocratic decisions within a democracy. Not all decisions within a democracy are democratic. This is the culture of talking anyhow.

Both Pagan Amum and Riek Machar should know that belonging to an organization requires adhering to organizational protocols and internal avenues of problem-solving. Disagreements within a political party are normal, however, these disagreements should be solved behind closed doors. If you can’t solve internal issues behind closed doors then maybe belonging to one political party isn’t such a good idea. Publicly criticizing your own political party and the president as a senior party official is wrong…it doesn’t happen anywhere in the world.

And how naïve would someone criticize the boss, tells the boss ‘I want your job’ and expects the boss to say ‘go ahead, take my job…you are a great man!’ I don’t know which world Riek Machar is living in. What he’s saying regarding the country is admittedly the general truth; that the country is off the cliff and something has to change to salvage it, however, this doesn’t mean entering into the culture of ‘care-free-ness.’ An able leader would seek helpful ways of solving problems. You don’t get to criticize your boss, an uncritical boss for that matter, and get to keep your job. What were you smoking, Mr. Machar? Ambition intoxication?

In the end, the president needs to justify his actions, follow the constitution and let his officials know that talking to the media should be bound by party or government protocols; and that facts have to be researched and appropriately referenced for the government to have some respect in the eyes of South Sudan.

@kuirthiy

Accountability as the Golden and Cultural Phenomenon

No government can succeed in anything without strong institutional functionality modals. At any level, there has to be day-to-day methods for micro-accountability. Auditors should only play supervisory roles as their duties come once in a while. For South Sudan, we need self-perpetuating methods that’d remain as cultural…daily. Psychologically, South Sudanese should understand that accountability is a daily happening.

Corruption isn’t going to end through the arrest of few individuals. What the government has to do is to establish systemic instruments that can act as deterrents for would-be corrupt employees.

What we have to understand is that auditing is a yearly event that does little in fighting corruption in Africa. In that case, what the country needs is structural establishment of across-the-board modalities that can make sure accountability becomes a golden cultural phenomenon.

The recent suspension of Finance Minister, Kosta Manibe, and Cabinet Affairs Minister,Deng Alor, is a political faux pas. While some might rush to argue that the President has finally got some nerves in fighting corruption, the arrest raises more curious questions than answers. Admittedly, the incident makes South Sudanese even more wary and confused than comforted.

What’s the fate of the 75-fellows letter? When is the president going to report back to the nation about what happened to the letter?

The suspension of these two ministers and the subsequent investigations are going to neither to reduce corruption nor assure anyone that the president is serious about fighting corruption.

Fighting corruption shouldn’t be a political cherry-picking. The president has to either do a systemic overhaul or devise modalities that can be applied by every single worker in South Sudan. Accountability shouldn’t be restricted to government departments either. It should apply to everyone in both the public and private sphere of work…and at all levels.

Each and everyone should be enlightened and given strict directives in order to know that accountability is to be made a cultural phenomenon in South Sudan. Strict transitive causal relations can help: A->B->C->D. Every single person should understand that they are accountable to someone above them. This accountability modal shouldn’t be restricted to fiscal enterprises. The modals should be applied to any given task that directly affects the lives of South Sudanese and their developmental future.

Regular accountability meetings at every given department should be made mandatory. A culture where people know that they can be called anytime by their superiors is the culture we want. If one knows that one’s boss can call anytime for one to account for the hours worked, the quality of work or any task money-related, then it would be possible for people to keep clean records of what they do.

For instance, employees should keep their records because their supervisors can call them anytime to account for what they do; whether they adhere to codes of conduct and their job descriptions. Supervisors should also keep their records because they can be summoned anytime to account for what they do in front of departmental heads. Departmental heads should also keep their records clean as they might be called to account in front of directors. And this should continue up to the ministers, to the parliament and to South Sudanese citizens. Without this systemic inculcation of the culture of accountability, arresting or suspending individuals only becomes an excuse; a political ruse meant to cover up the macabre malady of corruption.

National Audit Chamber (NAC) can either devise these modalities or the government can contract an independent consulting company to make sure that accountability isn’t restricted to government officials. NAC yearly auditing is just a pinch among all the ingredients required for workable and effective accountability.

Let what we do be transparent! Let accountability be cultural!

Follow: @kuirthiy