Rebecca is Finally Off to the Road and Running
4 min readPresident Salva Kiir has finally fired his presidential adviser on gender and child affairs, Madam Rebecca Nyandeng
By Malith Alier, Juba
Eight months in the stomach of the rebellion and on the payroll for doing nothing? Welcome to South Sudan, the land of the “slow to react.”
Finally, today, the 19th of August 2014 AD after long and internecine eight months has seen the removal of the rebellious Presidential Advisor on Gender, Child and Religious Affairs along with other seven Legal Counsels from the Ministry of Justice.
The fact that this was long overdue cannot be over-emphasized. Eight months into the conflict that has killed tens of thousands is a long time in politics. A revolution like the failed coup can take just hours. Killing a million can take hours with the introduction of machine guns.
The saying that there are no permanent enemies or friends in politics has lastly become a reality at least in the context of South Sudan. Alternatively, the “sacred cows” are no longer sacred. Further, the voice of reason has prevailed.
Nyandengdit truly took a deadly and controversial approach in the current conflict. Those who have the audacity to back her up have no understanding of the damage the tongue does. The tongue is like a bushfire that consumes the whole bush including anything along its way like homes. Further, the Bible says that it is not what goes in that is harmful but it is what goes out from inside that caused more harm.
Rebecca stoked up the fire by what came out from inside her to the whole world from sixteenth December 2013 immediately after the eruption of violence in the country. Talking to the BBC carelessly about what one has no complete grasp contributed to the current stalemate by at least 50%.
The bush mentality where everyone including Nyandeng was awarded a military rank without training is killing this country along with politico-military mixture as a modus operandi. It is too bad to allow some politician to talk military matters in the way Rebecca did to the BBC. If South Sudan is still learning then this is a lesson it will never forget.
The fact that Rebecca was married to late Garang should never again deceive anyone in this country. She was let scot-free on many occasions in the same belief that she will turn over a new leaf but to no avail. The December 6 conference and the BBC interview were unforgivable but forgiven inequities against her position in the government.
On the other hand, being a Presidential Advisor and on payroll long after rebellion did not persuade her to look back and say eh I belonged here. Both the efforts of the President and the patience of the citizens were also in vain.
It is the government to blame for all this. The eruption of the conflict is a sole responsibility of the government in power. The government of the day has all the resources at her disposal to utilise to develop, protect and maintain peace internally and externally.
The government has the oil money to develop the country, it has the constitution and the armed forces to protect and maintain peace within and without.
Now and after the utter failure of the government of the day to utilise all the available capacity, it should act with speed to bring certain matters under control. Many rebels in the bush are still on active list in the military and civil service.
Their dues continue to flow to them or their relatives without scrutiny. The same government under attack should not continue to aid rebels through meagre resources.
This author in the past recommended that the government;
- Remove all rebels from active service
- Freeze rebel assets within the country with no exceptions
This is slowly taking place because South Sudan is a land of the “slow.”
Two days ago, a woman who camps in UNMISS compound in Juba but on the same time remained on the government payroll was denied her salary not because she is away from work but because she ran there with her child from a previous marriage. She was coerced to return the child to the father and later allowed to receive her pay for doing nothing.
Rebecca Nyandeng as well as the G7 from Ministry was on the payroll and active service after eight months into the conflict.
These are just but a few.
There are thousands perhaps millions who are ghost workers on the list in the government. They were once employees of the government but have rebelled. They must be detached from the government which has to them, became a foe.
President George W. Bush once said that a war cannot be a campaign of half measures. This should be the motto for South Sudanese who remain in the country.
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