President Kiir Should Offer Dr. Riek Machar the Position of the Prime Minister in the Interim Governmnent
4 min readBy PaanLuel Wël
In one way or the other, this current unfortunate conflict in South Sudan will end, with Dr. Riek Machar being an integral part of the interim government and President Kiir Mayaardit as the head. There is no other way around it.
What that mean is that KiiRiek and their fanatical supporters would have to come to terms with that eventuality, sooner the better. Given the way things stand now and the conjectures of their supporters, both sides have long way to go.
In spite of their extremism, none is able to do away with the other militarily, nine months and counting. You would be forgiven to think that there are AU/UN-mandated international peacekeepers keeping them apart. Yet, none is prepare to appreciate this military stalemate and embrace the full reality of the situation.
In December 2013 and up to the early part of 2014, it was all about “Kiir must go” and “Riek must be captured, dead or alive.” Power sharing in a transitional coalition government was an anathema to both parties. To the government, they could not countenance sharing power with the “prophet of doom.” To the rebels, it was a taboo (a betrayal of the dead ones) to even think about sharing power with “Killer Kiir.”
Pass forward and the same people who were so adamant about the infeasibility of “us” sharing power with “them” have now totally embraced the idea of an interim government encompassing all the stakeholders to the conflicts.
Still, there are petty stumbling blocks, with President Kiir insisting that he would never offer a position of the prime minister to Dr. Riek Machar and with the rebels releasing an outlandish paper in which they demand 70% of the interim government.
In my view, both positions are untenable. In order to end the war and abate further catastrophe in our beloved nation, President Kiir should offer the prime ministerial position to Dr. Riek Machar and the rebels must unequivocally endorse President Kiir as the leader of the transitional government.
Moreover, the post of the deputy prime minister should be given to Pagan Amum while Wani Igga maintain his position of the VP. Real talks should then commence on the transitional powers of the president, VP, prime minister and deputy PM, among other positions and outstanding issues.
Furthermore, the parties should look seriously into the rebel’s paper on wealth sharing, in order to blunt the allure of Juba/central government, which has been the Achilles’ heel of most African countries.
Dr. Riek Machar, like all rebels all over the world, is a spoiler. He has to be contained and accommodated as it was once done in 2002 for the sake of peace and unity among South Sudanese.
It is therefore upon the president to spearhead the sharing of power with the interest of the country (not his) in mind.
That means President Kiir must make some painful concessions for the sake of peace and stability. The post of the prime minister, for instance, should be substantive, not cosmetic, for Dr. Riek Machar to have a face-saving negotiation strategy.
Election should then be held within two years with Kiir, Riek, Pagan, Nyandeng, among others, competing for the presidency in a free and fair democratic election overseen by regional and international observers to reduce the chances of the losers crying foul and relapsing into violence to perpetuate being in power through a never-ending interim governments.
That election would demand President Kiir to be proactive and sensitive, and Dr. Riek to wean himself from Nuer nationalism, venturing beyond his tribal base.
Till then, the imperative now is to create the position of the premier for Dr. Riek Machar. The war must end now; let’s stop beating about the bush.
We are all South Sudanese with equal stakes in the war and peace in this country.
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