Mohammadu Buhari and John Magufuli: New Crop of Leaders Rocking an African Boat
4 min readBy Malith Alier, Juba, South Sudan
December 12, 2015 (SSB) —- The year 2015 goes down in history as the year in which fundamental changes take place from east to west, south and north of the African continent. That means that political and economic situations of the continent will never be the same again.
Issues like democracy, corruption, rights violation could be things of the past if the current trajectory is sustained. This author looks at what is going on in western and eastern parts of Africa, specifically in Nigeria and Tanzania.
Presidential elections took place in both countries, bringing in new leaders armed with new visions to tackle the ills that had affected their countries for too long.
Mohammadu Buhari and John Magufuli are the leaders to watch over the next four to five years of their terms in office. Both promised to tackle corruption and inefficiency in government. Mohammadu Buhari has already taken steps to rein in endemic corruption that Nigeria had been known for. The rot in the government goes back many years since independence.
This is the same thing that holds back many African economies. The corruption perception index 2015, named Ghana number two after South Africa.
John Magufuli is a hot topic in east Africa as we speak. He just got elected in October and assumed power in November. His management style has caught many by surprise. Dr. Magufuli is trending on the net right now. “What would Magufuli do” is the ash tag on social network sites.
“So,” what would Magufuli do if he were the president of South Sudan? Magufuli would go to Juba Teaching Hospital and sack the hospital Director General and several other officials because of people lying down on the floor and the hospital is unclean.
He would go to the ministry of Finance and sack the minister because of salary delays. He would go the Bank of South Sudan (BSS) and relieve the governor on spot because of the people looking for US Dollars in the bank. The other reason for relieving the governor is the black market of Dollars. Many people, right from the cattle camps are trading on the streets next to the BSS.
Magufuli would go direct to the ministry of transport, Roads and Bridges and sack the minister along with other officials for the deadly plane crash which claimed many innocent lives in November. The Civil Aviation Authority would not be spared for the same reason. It bears greater responsibility in the unfortunate event.
Magufuli would go to Check-point in Nimule and sack the director general of customs because the customs department is not collecting enough revenue for the government. The customs officials there are simply colluding with importers and the revenues they collect go to their pockets.
Magufuli would restrict foreign travels by ministers. He would argue that the diplomatic functions would be carried out by ambassadors and there is no need for any minister to go to China, USA or South Africa and waste a lot of money for nothing.
Magufuli would cancel 9 July independence celebrations and instead, redirect the funds used to flying in and accommodating foreign heads of state, for cleaning up and equipping Juba Teaching Hospital.
Magufuli would go to the ministry of defence and order the Minister of Defence, Chief of General Staff (CoGS) and deputies to have one bodyguard each. He would order the CoGS to clean up the army payroll for the first time in the history of South Sudan.
Magufuli would go to the ministry of Interior and sack the acting minister because the Police, Prisons, Wildlife and Fire Brigade payrolls are full of ghost names.
Mr. Magufuli would go to Nilepet and sack the Managing Director because of the crippling energy crisis the country is going through. Vehicles queue for petroleum products every day.
Mr. Magufuli would go to the Ministry of Environment and the Juba City Council and sack all the officials there for allowing the City to chock in rubbish.
Last but not least, Mr. Magufuli would form a lean government. The ministers of central government should only be 12 in number, one each for ten states and the two administrative areas. The many commissions would be amalgamated because some of them have no meaningful functions.
Dr. Magufuli would not rest there; he would go to the states and clean up the state governments for efficiency.
Some people have accused Dr. Magufuli of “Rwandanisation,” but that is the sign of the future governments. It was Rwanda yesterday, Tanzania today and the whole of east Africa tomorrow. You won’t be surprised by many Magufulis of the future.
The opinion expressed here is solely the view of the writer. The veracity of any claim made are the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers (SSB) website. If you want to submit an opinion article or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. SSB do reserve the right to edit material before publication. Please include your full name, email address and the country you are writing from.
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