Making Sense of President Kiir’s Newly Restructured Cabinet

By PaanLuel Wël, Juba City, South Sudan

President Kiir’s highly anticipated new restructured cabinet is out, with, at least so far, 19 cabinet ministers and 10 deputies, making a total of 29 cabinet members, in addition to the President and his yet-to-be appointed deputy. Study the analysis below in comparison to the previous cabinet that was replaced by this new one.

THE NEWLY RESTRUCTURED CABINET OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN:

(A)  List of the new Cabinet Ministers

 

s/n	National Ministries	Cabinet Ministers	Region from	State from	Previous Position	Party from
1	Ministry of Cabinet Affairs	Martin Elia Lomoro	Equatoria	Central Equatoria	Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries	Democratic Forum
2	Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs	Kuol Manyang Juuk	Upper Nile	Jonglei	Governor of Jonglei state	SPLM
3	Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation	Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin	Upper Nile	Jonglei	Ministry of Information and Broadcasting	SPLM
4	Minister in the office of the President	To be appointed later
5	Minister in the office of the President for National Security	Obote Mamur Mete	Equatoria	Eastern Equatoria	Deputy chief of staff for political and moral orientation	SPLM
6	Ministry of Justice	Telar Ring Deng	Bahr el Ghazal	Lakes	Presidential Advisor on Legal Affairs and Diplomatic Relations	SPLM
7	Ministry of Interior and Wildlife Conservation	Aleu Ayieny Aleu	Bahr el Ghazal	Warrap	Chairperson, Parliamentary Committee on Security	SPLM
8	Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Economic Planning	Aggrey Tisa Sabuni	Equatoria	Central Equatoria	Presidential Advisor on Economic Affairs (still affirmed in this position)	SPLM
9	Ministry of Labor, Public Service and Human Resource Development	Kwong Danhier Gatluak	Upper Nile	Unity	Deputy Minister for Labor, Public Service and Human Resource Development	SPLM
10	Ministry of Health	Dr. Riek Gai Kok	Upper Nile	Jonglei	MP for Akobo	NCP
11	Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunication and Postal Services	Michael Makwei Lueth	Upper Nile	Jonglei	Parliamentary Affairs	SPLM
12	Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Animal Resources, Fisheries, Cooperative and Rural Development	Beda Machar Deng	Bahr el Ghazal	Warrap	Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Forestry	SPLM
13	Ministry of Transport, Roads and Bridges	Simon Majok Mijak	Upper Nile	Unity	Deputy Minister for Roads and Bridges	SPLM
14	Ministry of Education, Science and Technology	Prof. John Gai Yoh	Upper Nile	Upper Nile	RSS Ambassador to SA/Turkey	SPLM
15	Ministry of Land, Housing and Physical Planning	Jemma Nunu Kumba	Equatoria	Western Equatoria	Housing and Physical Planning	SPLM
16	Ministry of Petroleum, Mining, Industry and Environment	Mr. Stephen Dhieu Dau	Upper Nile	Upper Nile	Commerce and Industry	SPLM
17	Ministry of Electricity, Dams Irrigation and Water Resources	Abdalla Deng Nhial	Upper Nile	Jonglei	Was in Khartoum,	PCP
18	Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Development	Awut Deng Acuil	Bahr el Ghazal	Warrap	Labour and Public Service	SPLM
19	Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports	Ngor Kolong Ngor	Bahr el Ghazal	Northern Bahr el Ghazal		SPLM

(B)  List of the New Deputy Ministers

 

s/n	Deputy National Ministries	Deputy Cabinet Ministers	Region from	State from	Previous Position	Party from
1	Ministry of Justice	Paulino Wanawilla Onango	Equatoria	Central Equatoria	Deputy Minister for Justice	SPLM
2	Ministry of Interior and Wildlife Conservation	Jadalla Augustino Wani	Equatoria	Central Equatoria	Recently retired SPLA Army General	SPLM
3	Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Economic Planning	Kengen Jakor	Upper Nile	Jonglei	Deputy minister for Commerce, Industry and Investment	SPLM
		Mary Jervas Yak	Bahr el Ghazal	Western Bahr el Ghazal	Deputy minister for Finance and Economics Planning	SPLM
4	Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunication and Postal Services	Rebecca Joshua Okwachi	Upper Nile	Upper Nile	Deputy Minister for General Education and Instruction	SPLM
5	Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Animal Resources, Fisheries, Cooperative and Rural Development	Nadia Arop Dudi	Upper Nile	Unity	Deputy Minister for Animal Resources and Fisheries	SPLM
6	Ministry of Transport, Roads and Bridges	Martin Tako	Equatoria	Western Equatoria
7	Ministry of Education, Science and Technology	Bol Makueng Yuol	Bahr el Ghazal	Lakes	SPLM Secretary for Information	SPLM
8	Ministry of Land, Housing and Physical Planning	Deng Arop Kuol	Bahr el Ghazal	Abyei	Former Chief Administrator of Abyei	SPLM
9	Ministry of Petroleum, Mining and Environment	Elizabeth James Bol	Bahr el Ghazal	Warrap		SPLM

(C) Summary of cabinet distribution at the Regional Level

s/n	Name of Region	No. of ministries	No. of Deputy Ministries	Total cabinet share	% Share of the Cabinet	% Share of the national population
1	Greater Upper Nile	9	3	12	42.86%	2.89M	35%
2	Greater Bahr el Ghazal	5	4	9	32.14%	2.73M	33%
3	Greater Equatoria	4	3	7	25.0%	2.64M	32%
Total	————	18	10	28	100%	8.26M	100%

(D) Summary of cabinet distribution at the State Level 

s/n	Name of State	No. of ministries	No. of Deputy Ministries	Total Cabinet share	% Share of the Cabinet	% Share of the National population
1	Jonglei	5	1	6	21.43%	1.36M	16.46%
2	Unity	2	1	3	10.71%	0.585M	7.08%
3	Upper Nile	2	1	3	10.71%	0.96M	11.62%
4	Warrap	3	2	5	17.86%	0.97M	11.74%
5	Lakes	1	1	2	7.14%	0.695M	8.41%
6	Northern Bahr el Ghazal	1	0	1	3.57%	0.72M	8.71%
7	Western Bahr el Ghazal	0	1	1	3.57%	0.33M	3.99%
8	Western Equatoria	1	1	2	7.14%	0.62M	7.50%
9	Central Equatoria	2	2	4	14.29%	1.10M	13.31%
10	Eastern Equatoria	1	0	1	3.57%	0.91M	11.01%
Total	———–	18	10	28	100%	8.26M	100%

(E)  Summary of cabinet distribution According to the Major Political Forces in the Republic of South Sudan

s/n	Name of the Political Force	No. of ministries	No. of Deputy Ministries	Total cabinet share	% Share of the Cabinet	% Share of the national population
1	Dinka	10	3	13	46.43%	40-43%
2	Nuer	4	2	6	21.43%	16-20%
3	Greater Equatoria	4	3	7	24.99%	32%
4	The Fourth Forces	0	2	2	7.14%	6-10%
Total	————-	18	10	28	100%	100%

Let me say something about the last part on political forces in the Republic of South Sudan. For the uninitiated and political novices in the fluid interplay of power politics in the Republic of South Sudan, the last part, Part (E), may appear puzzling if not out-rightly subversive. Nonetheless, it is the practical, real aspect of and to it. There are four major political forces in the Republic of South Sudan: first is the Dinka, second the Nuer, third the Greater Equatoria and the Fourth Forces are the minority groups such as the Murle, the Shilluk, the Anyuak, the Fertit, the Luo among others. Cabinet selection and other touchy national undertakings should be based on the reality of the four major political forces because disgruntlement on or contentment with any decision taken from J-1 is invariably rationalise on the extent to which the interests of these political forces are taken care of according to their proportional national population. This is the true meaning of justice, of fairness and the essence of equality. Anything else is just but a smokescreen, a dangerous recipe for national disaster.

Take for instance how decisions are made and taken in J-1. Have you ever pondered how on Earth Benydit made his seminal decisions before they are decreed? I mean, what guide his political decisions and actions and how do we judge his pronouncements: based on what? Merit and Competence you may venture but what determine merit and competence in a country like South Sudan? Corruption. If merit is about quality education and enviable CV, then it is all determined by money and connections. Who has money and connections? The 75 Mafia. Merit and Competence is therefore another way to feed and nourish the beast of corruption because if you are not VERY corrupt like the 75, it is highly unlikely for you to gain veritable MERIT and incontrovertible COMPETENCE. You need money to procure good education and strong, deep connections to gain experience and competence. Unfortunately, the sons and daughters of the most corrupt are the ones going to the best schools because they have the money and would be the one to get the necessary experiences and thus competence because of their daddy/mummy’s connections.

Constitution in its current forms and in whatever form it might later metastasize into is useless because it is not being followed, and worse still, it is irrelevant to our political situation since it is based on an alien notion of power politics. So? So we need to invent a new way, a better stratagem to manage the country, to make seminal political decisions such as cabinet selection; we need a yardstick not just to guide Benydit in his decision-making but also as a benchmark to reproach or praise his actions and pronouncements. We need to identify what tick, what is relevant, local, useful, effective, and generative insofar as our quest for fairness, justice, equality, peace and national harmony is the cornerstone to our economic development, political stability and social prosperity. If fairness, justice, equality, peace and national harmony are to be the solid pillars of our national consciousness, molding and integration, then we must stop burying our head in the sand in the name of making cabinet appointments and other national decisions on the purported rationale of “merit and competence”, which, sadly, in most cases than not, is not even remotely adhered to. It give one person, in the statue of the presidency, unwarranted powers and influence to satiate his unnational whims.

What we need is not democracy per se but REALISM and PRACTICALITY and EFFECTIVENESS. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the concept of democracy as theoretically conceived, it is simply unrealistic, impractical and ineffective in South Sudan and across Sub-Saharan Africa for that matter. It has been a monumental failure since the 1960s. It needs to be Africanized, localized, South-Sudanized, negotiated, reformed, re-channeled etc. so as to make it relevant to the socio-political fabric of South Sudan political substructure. One effective, practical and relevant method to do that is to identify the reality of the political situation in South Sudan through the major political forces that drive and influence political wave, direction, depth and intensity. In the just decreed cabinet apportionments, what everyone rushes to find out about individuals picked is neither their competence, the merit of their respective appointments nor their democratic credentials. Rather, it is the political force those individuals hail from: are they Dinkas, Nuers, Greater Equatorians or from the Fourth Forces. This is why the most controversial aspect of the newly restructured cabinet is the appointment of three full cabinet ministers from one county: Bor county. Why is it a big deal? Aren’t they qualified? They are. Weren’t they picked on merit? Possibly all were. But still, something just reeks about the decision: where they hail from.

Put simply, let’s stop the destructive pretense of being a democratic republic of South Sudan where a democratically elected president has the mandate and confidence of the people to make decisions that put food on our table, send our kids to school, fund our economic infrastructure and social amenities, safeguard our national sovereignty and territorial integrity among others. It isn’t working and it will not work. And it has nothing to do with Kiir as the current president or Riek or Pagan or Wani or Nyandeng as the aspirants: it is systemic. It is not about leadership nor about our prized procedural democracy, it is about the impracticality, the irrelevancy and the ineffectiveness of the essence of the current political system.

To hell with procedural democracy that does not bring political stability, economic development and social prosperity; to hell with the constitution that is not worth the paper it is written on; to hell with the presidential system where cabinet appointments become somebody favors to bestow whimsically without due regards to the reality of our political situation based on the four major political forces in the country; to hell with the useless political parties that make mockery of democracy, but above all, to hell with our intellectuals who parrot and ape undigested foreign ideas with no relevancy, practicality and usefulness to the reality of our socio-political and economic growth.

Our political parties should be the Four Political Forces; our political ideology Tribocracy and our economic philosophy Humanistic Socialism—comrades in suffering, in death and in social prosperity.