Freeloaders in South Sudan: A Formidable Force.
9 min readBy Alier Ateny
Many people have talked and written about South Sudan, the youngest nation in the world, just 2 years into independence but already qualified as a failed state, and sooner or later might as well qualified as a rogue state. This article will highlight the reasons why those in the system right now would not accept a change; this discussion will be based on the following topics (i) Ghost names on the pay list (ii) Unqualified army of public servants (iii) family members getting salaries for free (VI) and of course the corrupt ministers and generals. Are these people interested in a change? The essay will argue the contrary. This is call cracking the code; some thorny topics will be brought up in this essay. Please read it.
South Sudan’s Political, social and economic system was set up to fail
Many analysts have argued that, South Sudan was doom to fail due to lack of a pre-plan or a blueprint on how the country could be run comes self-determination; if South Sudanese had considered this in advance, they would have started by nominating a credible Joshua with true leadership attribute and a clear road-map of where he or she is heading the nation to. People of South Sudan did not go to war in 1983 just to change their masters, they wanted to live in a country where government would think and care about their well-being; they wanted to live under a government different from that oppressive government of Khartoum, that is, government of the people by the people for the people, however, not much has changed, South Sudan government imported the very system that took the people of South Sudan to civil war. Corruption is still prevalence in its worst case, critics are still being arbitrary arrested, forced to exile, or killed, media still under government control and use as a propaganda tool, opposition parties still being menaced, and so on. Another despotic system being practiced by the South Sudan government is what I would refer to here as ‘’jungle politics,’’ it was used during the entire period of the civil war, like the culture of ‘’Musadaats and Muhimaats’’. Musadaats means material assistance of any kind used to be given to generals and their families only, those assistances could be food, clothing, money as well as other vital services. It was an obligation for those generals to have domestic workers in their houses too, managed by their wives and children. Muhimaats were sort of nutritious foods like liver, kidney, heart, pancreas, intestines and other special foods being prepared for the generals at the frontline. Such privileges were not opened to everybody, you have to be a general, or a family member, or a close relative in order to get Musadaats or Muhimaats. If you take a look at our current system right now, you would realize that, it is just but a prototype of that old system used during the war. Most if not all ministers in the former and current GOSS government are the very generals who know none other than war and that culture of Musadaats and Muhimaats. They put their family members or close relatives as the civil servants in public sectors, majority of whom are not even qualified staffs, because merits is a thing of the future not in their world. Those relatives who are not given any positions can still earn salaries every pay day through the ghost list, some Diasporas are beneficiaries of this kind of corrupt system either directly or indirectly.
Is change possible in South Sudan?
Yes, change is possible but not without sacrifice, either from within or from without, whether now or in the future. All we need in South Sudan right now is another revolution, both in thinking and in the way we do things as well. The bourgeoisie’ class is not sleeping though, they will do all they could to maintain that corrupt system, they call it do or die situation, they are there to stay as they often promise, ‘’SPLM is here to stay’’. Those who attempt to change that status qua are vilified and branded as enemies of the nation, because these looters know very well that any change to the status qua will certainly come with a serious nation building, and this will definitely affect them in one way or another. For example, national resources will be channeled to important national projects, ghost names will be screen out of the national pay lists, corrupt individuals will be held accountable and unskilled staff will be replaced with skilled ones. Put it simply, the whole system of corruption will be scraped and replaced with system of accountability, transparency, economic and social justice; and rule of law, in nutshell; an effective and efficient system.
Spy in the sky
Some beneficiaries of this corrupt system act as undercover spies trying to look for underground reformists and those who might be saying things against their corrupt deals or government. Some citizens ended up in exile in such away, they have been forced to flee the country, for instance, a gentleman call Jon Pen Ngong and others are victims of this intimidation, not to mention those who have already lost their lives like Isaiah Abraham and many more. The following was a speech by Isaiah’s daughter in his funeral.
The heartbreaking speech from the 14-year-old Aluel Isaiah Abraham: I believe my father was killed because he wanted a better South Sudan and I am not afraid to say that…my father’s passion for South Sudan has left me without a father, left my siblings without a father, left my mother without a spouse. Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol was the first martyr for the Freedom of Expression in the Republic of South Sudan
Free expression of any kind is attacked, be it letters, arts and what have you, open hostility towards none government controlled media is promoted; freelances and columnists are censored or arrested. There is also issue of brain washing and indoctrination. Vast majority of these elite’s class spend most of their times with destitute trying to brain wash the population and save face the corrupt ministers, such that people don’t get to question the system and what they do. When people are starving to death, they use their government control TV and preach the opposite that people’s lives have now improved under the government of His Excellency. When there is inter-communal conflict, they would be like; our people are more united now than before, and so forth. Those undercover spies can also be found in many different roles, for instance, ostensible peace and reconciliation forums, and the so call public awareness about the cause of the conflict, and other glittery jobs. Church is another institution which has built a fishy nexus with this corrupt elites, our government cleverly use religion to numb people’s minds not to question anything, they are taught by the religious leaders not only to fear God, but also their authorities. I recommend you to read these 2 books if you would; Animal farm and 1984, by George Orwell; this will give you an idea of where our country is heading to.
This is a 21st century
You might have heard this before or yet to hear this common excuses from South Sudan regime, oh America wants our oil, oh they wish us fail, oh international community this, international community that, yet they failed to understand that this contemporary world is interconnected. That is a mere propaganda and many authoritarian regimes have used it before but to no avail, Qaddafi and Saddam tried it, Assad is using it, legends like Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin did not benefit from it either. In addition, this is 21st century, time of fascism and dictatorship is long gone; this world is a different world all together, international community cannot sit on their hands and allow this very young nation to descent into lethal path right in their watch, there would be no reasons for UN and/or International community after all. South Sudan’s problem is a world’s problem in many aspects, humanitarian wise, stability of global economy and global politics, South Sudan is expected to contribute positively in improving lives of people and not engage in a thuggish behavior. Who is now feeding, sheltering or catering for the general well-being of those South Sudanese displaced by the conflict? Not South Sudan government, nor the South Sudan rebels, it is the same international community which our government is trying to sell short to the very population they came to rescue. The message these corrupt elites should pay attention to is this; many dictators have tried before and could not succeed, why do you want to learn from your own experience and not from other person’s else’s? This country is supposed to be a very lucky country because of the era of her birth; South Sudan came at a time when globalization has eliminated the miseries of isolation. We don’t have to go back and start from the rudimentary, we have mature democracies who are more than ready to coach us on laying foundations of a true democracy, strong economy, harmonies social and/or cultural co-existent, and use their advance technology to improve our economy, yet our government got us the very opposite. Once again, I remind our leaders that, there is hardly any room for dictatorship in this century, play your cards responsibly or somebody else will do the job.
About the Current conflict
The author of this article was in the middle of it all, when the conflict started last year especially in Bortown and all the way to the rural areas, hence, has witness the nature of this conflict first hand. When we came back from the hiding, we found the whole town literally littered with human bodies, there is no justification for the death of these innocent people whatsoever, whether in Juba, Bor, Malakal, or Bentiu. I join the whole world in urging and challenging both Kiir and Riek to do the extraordinary thing, to stop the blame game, ring up each other and agree to put down weapons for the sake of the people. You are just as good as the other if you keep on engaging in point scoring while people you claim to love continue to die, please do it for your people. If you don’t do that, then you two are fighting for your individual interests and not that of the people of South Sudan, I know both of you are peace loving people, none of you had intended this large scale war to take place, I personally blame it on your naivety, so please come back to your senses, your people can still forgive you regardless of the thousands who have already lost their lives. There is still a room for forgiveness, it is not too late to stop this conflict now because the more this conflict continues, the more damage to the country, and therefore, the more love lost.
You can reach the author, Alier Ateny, thru his email: alieratenth@hotmail.com
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