As our Boys-in-Uniform Go Unpaid……..Juba pays its Lobbyists in the West
Juba faulted for paying lobbyists in Washington
By KEVIN J KELLEY
In Summary
- President Salva Kiir’s government agreed earlier this year to pay $480,000 to the Podesta Group, an influential representative in Washington.
- $240,000 was paid to KRL International, a consulting firm helping Juba communicate more effectively with US policy makers.
- Independent Diplomat Inc, a Washington lobbying group, is receiving $100,000 this year for its services to South Sudan.
Activists who helped persuade the US government to back Independence for South Sudan are now criticising the country’s rulers, in part for spending nearly $1 million to retain three lobbying firms in Washington.
The beleaguered government of President Salva Kiir agreed earlier this year to pay $480,000 to the Podesta Group, an influential representative in Washington for a variety of countries.
South Sudan is also paying $240,000 to KRL International, a consulting firm that is helping the authorities in Juba communicate more effectively with US policy makers.
Independent Diplomat Inc, a Washington lobbying group that has worked for several developing countries, is receiving $100,000 this year for its services to South Sudan. The firm has also been paid at least $100,000 for its advocacy on behalf of President Kiir’s administration in previous years.
“It’s a good argument to say the government should be spending its money on its people and reconciliation and peace-building,” said Akshaya Kumar, a South Sudan specialist at the Washington-based Enough Project.
Although they had long urged US officials to support South Sudan’s quest for independence, leaders of Ms Kumar’s group have now shifted in rhetorical tone and political alignment.
In a 2012 commentary, Alan Boswell, a Nairobi-based correspondent for a US newspaper group, said that in supporting the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s military campaign for independence from the Sudan government in Khartoum, “the activists made a critical mistake.” He added: “They seemed to think that the SPLM rebels represented a virtuous mirror image of Khartoum’s evils.”
Eric Reeves, a university professor and leading US critic of the South Sudan government, said that Juba’s spending on Washington lobbyists is “very difficult to justify.”
South Sudan has enough expertise in-country and within its diaspora to advocate effectively for its interests in the US, Prof Reeves said. In addition, paying lobbyists nearly $1 million “looks terrible in the midst of a bloodbath,” he added.
Meanwhile, as South Sudan officials write cheques for expensive lobbyists in Washington, United Nations humanitarian agencies are scrambling to raise funds in a desperate effort to avert a calamitous famine in the country.
About Post Author
