Online Warfare with Finance Minister, Hon. Agak Achuil Lual, Remains Ad Hominem Attacks

By Cde. Ater Garang Ariath, Mading-Aweil, South Sudan

Tuesday, April 12, 2022 (PW) — Six month after taking office, Hon. Agak Achuil Lual, National Minister of Finance & Economic continues to be the victim of intensifying attacks and relieves calling threats online, mostly by country’s civil servants and security forces, who’s their six-month salary and arrears remain unaddressed by the RTGONU.

The 12 September 2018 R-ARCSS that laid the solid foundation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGONU) for the country, was thought to restore visionary and inspired hope for sustainable peace and stability of the country but things went contrary.

Delays of civil servants’ salary

Hon. Agak Achuil Lual and big cartel right hand successor to come after him, will remain victims of our structural economic problems and delayed of civil servants and security forces salary. However, to put this on record, I guest Hon. Agak Achuil Lual is handicapped and reform within Ministry of Finance will not happen overnight and lack of cash cannot squarely be chained upon him.

South Sudanese patriotic citizens should go beyond Ministry of Finance and Economics with balanced analytical thinking and dissect all relevant information surrounding frequently salary delayed than putting fierce blame online and threats against the Minister.

Civil servants and security forces should go beyond their thinking lines and frame up salary delaying as a national structural problem that need RTGONU collective leadership intervention under H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

South Sudanese celebrate government of revitalized peace agreement in an environment of political uncertainty and economic fragility given the opportunities created in the peace agreement as appeasement for the rebels.

South Sudan Revitalized National Transitional Legislative Assembly has more than five hundred Members of Parliament (MPs) and ten Revitalized State Legislative Assemblies have (1010) MPs apart from three Administrative Areas and executive members of government as an appeasement to give peace a chance but also depleted country in terms of its monetary demands.

Today, the country is short on optimism about the future, while the visions of its founding fathers remain unfulfilled. South Sudanese political leaders in and out of government have yet to take a long view and offer a vision or road map of where they want the country to go.

In fact, both politicians and military leaders in government and in opposition have spent much of time since the formation of RTGONU, which supposed to be for immediate implementation of the agreement in crisis management mode, postponing meaningful reform and looking for pain free, short-term solution rather than taking a long-term approach and dealing with both the urgent and important.

This has left the country’s structural problems such as economic, institutional, and social largely unaddressed. The challenges confronting RTGONU, and the country remain daunting.  Most are interconnected and have been feeding off and reinforcing each other in an unbroken cycle.

These include the structural crisis of the economy, erosion of state’s institutional capacity, the education deficit, uncontrolled acute hunger threats, environmental degradation, and of course growing intolerance in society, which aggravated communal fighting in some parts of the country.

Security Arrangement bottlenecked

Whatever the outcome of the ongoing political battle between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his first Vice President Riek Machar Teny for the implementation of security arrangement will determine failure or success of RTGONU in its slate period.

It is whether key issues in the agreement are seriously tackled that will shape the country’s future and pave the way for successful conduction of general elections as penned in the working document.

Nevertheless, none is more consequential than the economic challenge. The sharp increase in financing gaps in the government’s budget and the country’s trade account as well as rising debt are all as consequence of the country living beyond its means.

Inflation has soared, foreign exchange reserved has depleted, pressure mounted on the South Sudanese pounds and business confidence has eroded.  The RGONU urgently needs funds to avert a financial crisis.

That’s in the short term and essential a band –aid response. To put the economy on a viable and sustainable footing, steps are needed to deal with the structural sources of chronic budget and balance of payments deficits.  That require political consensus on key measures, especially an economic compact as it were.

Noteworthy, collegial consultative agreement is necessary among all political parties and other stakeholders in the R-ARCSS.

Tax and oil revenues Reform

Taxes and oil revenues reform would constitute the fundamental elements of this economic compact. This should be the top priority to make the system simple and equitable. This should be implemented nationally so that a single tax regime prevails in the country. 

The RTGONU through its revenues generating institutions serious mobilization of domestic resources should involve widening the tax base, ensuring compliance, reforming NRA, and ending exemption of big cartel companies.

This along with reconfiguring budget priorities, imposing spending restraints and cutting subsidies, would constitute the single most important effort to set the economy on a path to sustainability.

Another element in the economic compact should be agreement on a single and liberal business regulatory framework for the country. Consistency is essential to maintain that framework as well as under-implementation projects when government changes. 

Policy continuity and certainty is the key to building investor confidence.

A third area on which agreement is essential is identifying loss-making, bankrupt state-owned enterprises to be privatized. These financially draining state-owned enterprises have long been bleeding into budget deficits and adding to the country’s debt a burden that needs to end once and for all.

Political leaders and stakeholders should work collectively to ensure that the RTGONU is transparent and accountable, with legal, institutional, policies and procedures fully functional for sustainable development.

In accordance with Chapter four of the R-ARCSS, especially article 4.1.4 says, the RTGONU shall establish a high level, competent and effective oversight mechanism that shall control revenues collection, budgeting, revenue allocation and expenditure. 

The oversight mechanism may solicit technical and advisory resources on economic governance from the regional and international community.  The mechanism shall be guided by principles of mutual consent in accountability.

Therefore, to abate salary delay or any other pertinent financial matters, the RTGONU shall undertake immediate and medium –term economic and financial management reform programme, which cannot be handled and managed by the custodian Ministry without political
leadership guidance.

There are other areas that also need figure in the compact and taken out of partisan politics, such as power sector reform, central bank’s operational autonomy, market determination of the exchange rate and steps to expand the export base.

Again, it will take leadership to thinks long term to forge this compact and determine what reforms can secure consensus, effort to achieve such consensus should rest on the acknowledgement that unless the economy is fixed, all else including R-ARCSS is in vain.

Institutional Reform

Institutional reform too is an imperative on which the country’s political leadership needs to take along view.  It is widely agreed that the state’s institutional capacity has weakened over time due to on and off civil conflict since 2013 up to now.

Unless the instruments of governance are made fit for purpose to meet the requirement of modern governance and improve service delivery, the most well-conceived government policy cannot be effectively implemented.  This required comprehensive reform, not just piecemeal
tinkering.

There are plenty of good recommendations in the R-ARCSS to draw on and the key elements for overhaul or totally economic reforms are in any case well known by the economists, by lack of political will is booming somewhere alas!

As far as my observation is concern, the Minister of Finance and Economic is maliciously targeted by South Sudanese online with nonconstructive criticisms supported by the country big cartels in order de seat him and restore their puppet.

Lastly, President Salva Kiir Mayardit, should look into crisis of the Ministry of Finance and Economic as intertwine with other revenue generating institutions, which need overhaul administrative reforms without political interference, otherwise frequently relieve and appointment will never solve problems but instead add mayhem and destruction.

In conclusion, salary delays distorted the whole image of the country and should be addressed by the collective leadership without fear or favour. Thanks.

The author, Cde.  Ater Garang Ariath, is the Former Secretary General of Defunct Aweil East State Political commentator and Human Right Activist. You can reach him at  atergarang452@gmail.com

If you want to submit an opinion article, commentary, or news analysis, please email it to the editor: info@paanluelwel.com or paanluel2011@gmail.com. PaanLuel Wël Media (PW) website does reserve the right to edit or reject material before publication. Please include your full name, a short biography, email address, city, and the country you are writing from.

About Post Author