Rebuttal: “Why should the arrowhead be pointing to the least paid President?”
5 min readA rebutal to an article published by Juba Monitor on 20 Sept 2016 by Ambassador Peter Modison Yugu
By Malith Alier, Juba, South Sudan
September 22, 2016 (SSB) — I take this chance to respond to an article published by Juba Monitor on Tuesday 20, 2016 by one ambassador, H.E. Peter Modison Yugu under the above title.
Ambassadors should be people of character and integrity. That is why they’re referred to as “excellencies” in the first place. They’re next to the president since they are personal representatives of the person of the president and the country at large to foreign nations around the globe. This is generally to say that they should be the least to mislead the public.
I’m not here to argue about whether the president is lowly or highly paid and I’m not also arguing about various reports either by African Union like the one by Obasanjo, the UN and or the Sentry reports just out on the 12 this month of September. What I’m going to rebut is the comparisons which seemed to be out of proportions.
Mr. Ambassador started by comparing our economy to that of the developed world perhaps out of superficial knowledge. Even somebody who compares apples and oranges would be forgiven in this instance.
Point 1 (a) points out that the former British PM earns sterling Pound 16,000 per week. This in turn amounts to 64,000 and 768,000 Pounds monthly and annually respectively. Points (b), (c), and (d) are as outrageous as the above.
Point 2 is talking about paid speeches by Bill Clinton earning millions of sterling Pounds in various regions across the globe.
Point 3 talks of Barack Obama earning USD 395,000 annually and is married with two daughters. Point 4 talks about Angela Merkel earning USD 250,000 annually married with no children.
Point 5 is about the newly installed British PM, Theresa May earning USD 207,000 annually married with no children
Point 6 talks about Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto having pay scale of USD 126,836 annually married with four children.
Therefore we can prepare a table like this from highest to the lowest paid leader
| Leader | Title | Years in power | Number of Children | Annual pay in USD | |
| 1 | Tony Blair | PM | 1997-2007 | 4 | 768,000* |
| 2 | Barack Obama | President | 2008-2016 | 2 | 395,000 |
| 3 | Angela Merkel | Chancellor | 2005-2016 | Nil | 250,000 |
| 4 | Theresa May | PM | 2016 | Nil | 207,836 |
| 5 | Enrique Pena Nieto | President | 2012-2016 | 4 | 126,376 |
| 6 | Salva Kiir Mayardit | President | 2005-2016 | Unknown | 60,000 |
As you can see Mr. Ambassador, you have varying assumptions which are misleading the public when you started comparing leaders in various parts of the world.
Comparing first and third world economies
One assumption is that you did not distinguish between advanced and third world economies like that of South Sudan. You failed to talk about Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the countries in the spotlight as well.
Comparing the USA economy which is number one in the world to ours is a complete disservice to people of this country to say the least. Other economic indicators from the advanced economies notwithstanding, point to your erroneous and miscalculated expose perhaps intended for political ends.
It can’t escape one’s mind why you jumped the region to compare our struggling economy to that of first world. Have you forgotten the mantra that South Sudan is a young nation of only five years? The US economy is more than 200 years. You should have concentrated in the neighbourhood where we have something in common, where economies are primary produce based. We share a lot with Sudan, Uganda, CAR or Congo than we do with economies on other continents. This is where I say even somebody comparing apples and oranges will be excused.
Leaders’ pay is directly related to economic wide pay. If a leader is paid more than another leader in another economy, this is directly related to the wages in the wider economy of that particular country.
The economists can explain this better. What happens if Salva is paid like say like Tony Blair? The wages of public sector in South Sudan will remain at the level they’re now. The ministers will follow suit and so are the Undersecretaries, Directors General and so. God knows where the money for such pay is going to be generated. The South Sudan economy can’t afford because it is not like that of the UK plain and simple.
Leadership versus speakership pay
The inclusion of speakership fees which amount to millions of Dollars to former leaders like Blair and Clinton has no place in the article. The speakers’ fees are always the highest because these are paid by companies which are overwhelmingly wealthy organisations in their own right. Mind you that these are not related to leadership positions but to personal qualities like oratory and fluency skills. In addition, these kinds of payments are above board because they’re paid through contractual arrangements which can only be challenged by boards or shareholders of those organisations concerned. Nobody has doubts in their right minds about skills of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton when it comes to effective public communication. If you have that, you’ll be earning more money in South Sudan and beyond and nobody will bother you in any way.
Number of children related/unrelated to pay
Another assumption is that of how many children a leader has. I doubt whether payments are related to a number of children a leader has.
Comparing different pay periods of leadership
Tony Blair and Bill Clinton ruled many years back and are no longer holding leadership positions as we speak, to be compared with the current leaders. One wonders where you got the guts to compare salaries and wages of yesteryear leaders with those of today.
Can you explain the variance between Tony Blair pay and that of successor from Gordon Brown, David Cameron down to Theresa May. Why has Theresa’s salary come down from 768,000* for Blair to USD 207,836? Was there a salary cut? If there was no salary cut What about Time Value of Money (TVM)?
Dear ambassador, you cannot get an eclipse if the moon and the sun or the moon and the earth do not align or are not in line. On the same note, you do not get the desired results if you are not comparing the likes.
Your conclusion that Salva is the least paid president is presumptuous. How did you conclude so when you have not sampled the whole list of presidents around the world or Africa at least? You should have also included salaries and wages in public and private sectors of the nations under the spotlight to add credence to your expose. That would have made your report if I may call it so, shine.
*Sterling Pound 768,000 exchange is assumed to be 1/1 to USD.
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