On the Establishment of the National Ministries of the Republic of South Sudan
6 min readWith this kind and numbers of our national government, one would bet that virtually 99% of oil revenue would go to the salarying of civil servants of the national, states and counties governments and with practically nothing remaining for national development and reconstruction.
By PaanLuel Wel, Washington DC, USA
With the newly-decreed national ministries of the Republic of South Sudan, President Salva Kiir’s last promise of and commitment to appoint a leaner cabinet for his new post-independence government seemed to have been a belated publicity stunt. Instead of the promised lean and broad-based cabinet, the unveiled national ministries hovers around thirty. This is in addition to the already bloated bi-cameral South Sudan National Legislative Assembly numbering about 382, the ten state governments and the expansive counties in the country.
Cost-wisely, it is just puzzling where and how this gigantic white elephant would be funded, and if, at all, there would be any resources left for security and development of the new nation. With this kind and numbers of the national government, one would bet that virtually 99% of oil revenue would go to the salarying of civil servants of the national, state and counties governments.
Numbers aside, it appears some ministries were created just to accommodate certain personalities, not public service delivery. The main troubling aspect of these national ministries is the unnecessary duplications of departments. For instance, it is weird and mind-boggling to see, under separate departments, ministries such as:
(1) Ministry of Roads & Bridges and Ministry of transport
(2) Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Ministry of Communication & Postal services
(3) Ministry of Electricity & Dams and Ministry of Water Resources & Irrigation
(4) Ministry of Defense & Veterans’ Affairs and Ministry of National Security in the office of the President
(5) Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Interior/home affairs
(6) Ministry of Petroleum & Oil and Ministry of Industry & Mining
(7) Ministry of animal resources & fisheries and ministry of agriculture & forestry
(8) Ministry of general/basic education & instruction and Ministry of higher education, science & technology
(9) Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Minister in the Office of the President and Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
(10) Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports and Ministry of Gender, Child & Social Welfare
RSS Ministerial Portfolios and Ministers (Caretaker list – Post-Independence)
Presidential Decree No. 26/2011: Kiir’s National Ministries of the Republic of South Sudan.
| 1 | Ministry of Cabinet Affairs |
| 2 | Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs |
| 3 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation |
| 4 | Minister, Office of the President |
| 5 | Minister for National Security, Office of the President |
| 6 | Ministry of Justice |
| 7 | Ministry of Interior |
| 8 | Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs |
| 9 | Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning |
| 10 | Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development |
| 11 | Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment |
| 12 | Ministry of Information and Broadcasting |
| 13 | Ministry of Health |
| 14 | Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry |
| 15 | Ministry of Roads and Bridges |
| 16 | Ministry of Transport |
| 17 | Ministry of General Education and Instruction |
| 18 | Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology |
| 19 | Ministry of Environment |
| 20 | Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning |
| 21 | Ministry of Telecommunication and Postal Services |
| 22 | Ministry of Petroleum and Mining |
| 23 | Ministry of Electricity and Dams |
| 24 | Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare |
| 25 | Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management |
| 26 | Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation |
| 27 | Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism |
| 28 | Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries |
| 29 | Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports |
Merging and Elimination of unnecessary Ministries to ensure lean and efficient Government
Some ministries such as the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, Minister in the Office of the President, and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs can be entirely eliminated since they add no cash-value to the delivery of goods and services to the public. In their places would be lower level secretaries, but not whole ministries, like Secretary of Cabinet Affairs or in the office of the presidency. We need no Secretary of the Parliamentary Affairs since we already have government Chief-Whip and Clerk in parliament.
Some other National Ministries needed to be integrated and ethnic diversity (Tribocracy) preserved in the forthcoming appointment of the cabinet. Some duplicative ministries can easily be eliminated and effectively merged with others to create a leaner, more effective and better efficient government.
Instead of a bloated cabinet, President Salva Kiir would have done better had he established and announced just the following 19 national ministries for the Republic of South Sudan:
Citizen Decree No. 26/2011: People’s National Ministries of the Republic of South Sudan.
| s/n | National Ministries | Ministries merged | Region allocated to |
| – | Office of the President | – | Bahr al Ghazal |
| – | Office of the Vice President | – | Upper Nile |
| 1 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs | 3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation | Equatoria |
| 2 | Ministry of Defense | 2. Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs;5. Minister for National Security, Office of the President | Bahr al Ghazal |
| 3 | Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development | 6. Ministry of Justice | Upper Nile |
| 4 | Ministry of Home Affairs/Interior | 7. Ministry of Interior | Bahr al Ghazal |
| 5 | Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning | 9. Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning | Equatoria |
| 6 | Ministry of Roads and Transport | 15. Ministry of Roads and Bridges;16. Ministry of Transport | Upper Nile |
| 7 | Ministry of Labor and Public Utilities/Services | 10. Ministry of Labor, Public Service and Human Resource Development | Equatoria |
| 8 | Ministry of Trade and Industrialization | 11. Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment; | Upper Nile |
| 9 | Ministry of Information, Postal Services and Telecommunication | 21. Ministry of Telecommunication and Postal Services;12. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting | Bahr al Ghazal |
| 10 | Ministry of Health | 13. Ministry of Health | Upper Nile |
| 11 | Ministry of Agriculture | 14. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry;26. Ministry of Water Resources, Dams and Irrigation | Equatoria |
| 12 | Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries | 28. Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries | Bahr al Ghazal |
| 13 | Ministry of National Heritage, Wildlife Conservation and Tourism | 27. Ministry of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism | Upper Nile |
| 14 | Ministry of Education | 17. Ministry of General Education and Instruction; 18. Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology | Equatoria |
| 15 | Ministry of Environment and Minerals Resources | 19. Ministry of Environment;22. Ministry of Mining | Bahr al Ghazal |
| 16 | Ministry of Petroleum and Energy | 22. Ministry of Petroleum23. Ministry of Electricity | Upper Nile |
| 17 | Ministry of Lands and Public Housing | 20. Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning | Equatoria |
| 18 | Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management | 25. Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management | Bahr al Ghazal |
| 19 | Ministry of Social Welfare and Culture | 24.Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare;29. Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports | Upper Nile |
Key: UN = 19 x 35% =7; BRG = 19 x 33% = 6; EQ = 19 x 32% = 6
Whether he was misled by his out-of-touch presidential advisors or he overruled them, President Kiir’s latest decree, especially his blatant abrogation of his own promise to the people of South Sudan on a lean and corruption-free cabinet, will only add more deadly ammunition to his fierce critics, many of whom might be celebrating now.
Indeed, in the writings of one Isaiah Abraham of Juba, South Sudan, it may come to pass that “Kiir appointments are disappointments!!”
You can reach PaanLuel Wël at paanluel2011 (email address), PaanLuel Wel (Facebook page), PaanLuelWel2011 (Twitter account) or through his blog account at:
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