South Sudan: The wanton mismanagement of our national affairs
6 min readBy Joseph Lino Wuor Abyei, Juba, South Sudan
“If you mismanage your affairs, you invite foreigners into your country …” President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni – Juba, August 26, 2015.
September 10, 2015 (SSB) — At the ceremony of the signature of the Compromise Peace Agreement in Juba, Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Moseveni took the podium and addressed the seemingly listless audience. Mindful of the sensitivity of the occasion, the Ugandan President spoke extensively about the importance of signing the Compromise Peace Agreement. To sugar coat the pill Museveni had to go around using idioms and proverbs which induced some attending hardliners within the audience to clap at an occasion which was emotionally charged.
According to this writer, those proverbs and idioms were craftily used to lure the patient to swallow the pill because “it will do you good” as a conscious doctor would normally do to persuade a recalcitrant patient.
The Ugandan President then delved into some delicate issues touching the UN and the problems it usually causes to the host countries and said, “I have never invited the UN into my country,” and there was an appreciative applause. With this statement this writer would not be proud to be a UN official.
During the afore said somber ceremony, President Museveni gave out a free of charge diagnosis and a prescription that, “if you mismanage your affairs, you invite foreigners into your country,” and that the sooner this agreement is signed the better and get rid of the foreigners. This statement can be a subject of books on the art of governance and – mismanagement invites foreigners, Museveni likened “mismanagement of affairs” to a family in crisis which invites neighbors, and usually the result of “mismanagement of affairs” is like the result of the famous proverb of “too many cooks spoil the broth.”
South Sudan is one among many third world countries that are afflicted with civil strife, and economic backwardness and social retardation and political stagnation; all these negative characteristics are a result of “mismanagement of affairs,” how?
There is no standard yardstick to measure mismanagement, but take South Sudan as an example; the people of this country rejected Arab subjugation and fought hard and they achieved independence which was instantly recognized by the United Nations. More important, this writer thinks that South Sudan is truly blessed with fertile land and almost limitless economic resources and a reasonable size of the country and a reasonable number of populations. But
Right from day one of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, news came out that the agreed share of South Sudan from oil revenues was missing. This pitted First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit against President Omer Al Bashir over South Sudan’s share from oil revenue with Kiir telling Omer that he did not receive his share of the oil revenue, while Omer confirmed that the money was sent to the coffers of the Government of Southern Sudan. In the end, Vice President Kiir Mayardit acquiesced and the issue died.
In 2011 or so, the Auditor General issued his annual report and this writer was made to understand through local newspapers that the Auditor General and some Hon Members of Parliament shed tears over the staggering missing dollar figures but nothing was done to recover people’s missing money and to wipe the tears. Similar founded or unfounded stories of “mismanagement of affairs” in South Sudan can fill pages, the sad part of it is that there is lack of accountability in the sense that public money gets lost and that is it.
Fortunately, South Sudan is not alone in the habit of gross “mismanagement of affairs”; this is very common in countries whose conditions are more or less similar to those in South Sudan. For example in a nearby or far away country this kind of missing amounts in US dollars this writer seems emotional about is just peanuts. In those courtiers with classic records of gross “mismanagement of affairs,” a missing amount similar to what has been lost here can just be carried away by one person.
Some people and some newspapers may make some noise for a few days and the issue dies down. But here in South Sudan the impact of the missing public US dollar figures people often speak about is huge comparatively because it practically amounts to the annual budget of this country, and it has practically crippled development steps.
This explains, in the wider scale, why basic services are lacking since 2005, why certain public sectors feel they are under paid, that is why there is no safe drinking water, that is why malaria, typhoid, cholera and similar diseases are rampant, that is why there is still no public electricity, that is why parents risk to send their children to neighboring countries to study, that is why some people travel to neighboring countries for medical treatment, that is why bridges, roads and streets are in shambles.
Probably that is why criminals have become so audacious to rob and commit murders in broad day light. In the opinion of this writer, and probably that of President Museveni, all these are partly a result of “mismanagement of affairs.”
In spite of all this, President Museveni never gets tired to remind that Juba has changed to the better a lot compared to Juba he knew. This writer may add that not Juba alone that has changed to the better comparatively, but each major town and some villages have significantly improved after independence, which means that had there been proper “management of affairs,” conditions would have greatly improved to the better.
Then rebellion occurred which has exposed the fragility of the superstructure and has invited foreigners into our country as said by President Museveni.
Compare Bor and Malakal with their state of affairs before rebellion, a big difference. Both Bor and Malakal were properly planned with large squares and bustling market places, but look at them after the rebels stormed and ransacked them. The rebels treated Malakal and Bor and Bentiu and any town and village they occupied as if they had occupied a foreign land. The first thing they did was to destroy any building and looted and plundered. This is “mismanagement of affairs” President Muuseveni speaks about.
To rebuild these towns and villages they will take huge financial resources which could have been used to improve on the existing facilities and make towns like Bor, Malakal, Bentiue more attractive and further accelerated their development.
This writer is not qualified to treat the issue of corruption, another face of “mismanagement of affairs” which has invited foreigners into our country. To get rid of foreigners will take a long time and will cost millions or possibly billions of ……
You can reach the author via his email: josephabyei@yahoo.com
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