South Sudan: Unsolicited Advice to our Incoming President Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel Kuol
Unsolicited Advice to our Incoming President Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel Kuol – Vice President and 1st Deputy Chairperson of the SPLM.
By Adv. Juma Mabor Marial, Juba, South Sudan
Sunday, 25 May 2025 (PW) — Dear Dr. Mel, it has become abundantly clear during your inauguration into the top leadership of the SPLM with your colleagues that, President Kiir is now passing the mantle of leadership to you and others as he ends his tenure in office in the near future and as such, I would like to voluntarily share the following advices as you position yourself to take up that role at the appointed time:
- As you step into leadership role, you will not be just any other person but a head of state and government and as such, your priority would be to reconcile and unite a much divided country and to achieve that, you must kill and fully bury any spirit of vengeance in your heart or mind because on your way up to that level, you must have encountered and rubbed shoulders with numerous actors and it will be deadly if you tries to avenge with all the powers in your hands now, so the best thing to do is forgive, forget and move on, after all, you have emerged the victor;
- As you shall be presiding over several forums and national occasions by the virtue of your positions, kindly let your team help you to frame your speeches and statements according to the nature and audiences of such occasions, for example, during your swearing in as the 1st deputy chairperson of the SPLM, your speech should have centered around how you would reform the SPLM and encourage multipartism to enhance democratic transformation in South Sudan, you would have called upon your competitors from other political parties to chant ethnic based and military affiliated political parties, the rest of the state policy statements that you made weren’t for that occasion;
- As the euphoria settles, please look at your surroundings, the way people ran around in ushering you in and out of SPLM house was very ugly and can cause insecurity even to your ownself, I know most of these young people are running to their teeth to get your attention but your protocol must be organized to project your current status, leaders need space to breathe and be seen, jobseekers can spoil and mess up your standing at such times;
- Also note, most of our colleagues at your age got decreed out a few weeks or months after their appointments into top government positions because of getting excited and doing things that are not expected of their positions due to the power that they just gained and most of them are now loitering with us on the streets scheming to come back to power, am not saying you would be that excited with powers that you have just been given but it is always good to learn from the mistakes of others and use them to your advantage, so keep the decorum as requires by the positions that you now holds;
- As you settle in and establish your offices, please avoid recruiting your staff through recommendations and tribal affiliations or friendships, this might have been applicable when you were holding the junior positions, but now that you are going to head the country and the party, be transparent and professionally guided, employ people on merit basis and establish technical teams to help you realize your vision of transforming South Sudan, a few teams that you need may include; Communication, public and foreign relations team to advice you on those three aspects, an economic team as you are in charge of economic cluster, a legal team, governance team, security team among others. This is not like forming a shadow government but it is to help you have technical staff to help you execute your functions effectively and efficiently. The ones you have now are jobseekers and most of them may not be in a position to give you strategic advices on the above thematic issues, the sooner you set up professional and technical teams at your respective offices, the better. I know this will earn me a couple of enemies already with those already in your office thinking that I am undermining them and/or possibly looking for a job at your offices, far from that, I am just trying to extend free and unsolicited information to help you get started, those who qualify among the ones you have now can be absorbed;
- Another most important point is that, please try to differentiate between government policies, classified government information and common information for public consumption, I know I am being too harsh in giving this advice but it is not out of bad intention, what I am saying is that, you don’t have to lay bar all your cards when giving public speeches or speaking in public occasions, there are some other information that you keeps for the boardrooms and share during strategic and policy meetings as this could be classified state information, what you do in public is give general information and try to persuade the public or your audience to embrace state policies. Avoid sharing too much information about your intended actions as a leader because they can be misinterpreted and countered before you actualize them;
- Also, as you wait to be finally handed over the leadership by President Kiir, please find a point of not issuing ultimatums because he is still in charge and your public pronouncements of end cut decisions may amount to insubordination of him and this violates the 48 laws of power, you know what number one of those laws says, if anything, be praising Kiir and make him so happy during his remaining days/years because what he has done by elevating you up to that level is what all your age-mates including his own children wish he had done to them, so hold on a bit, you are already there and you will be able to take and pronounce your policies as the head of state and government when President Kiir finally and formally informs us that you are now the new President of our Country;
- You are doing well at your cluster so far, make sure you put more efforts in clearing civil servants arrears and give salaries on timely basis as you have promised, let your company ARC together with the ministry of Roads and Bridges continue with the road constructions and prevail more social services as we wait for the D-day, this will help you convince most citizens to vote for you in 2026 as you shall be the flag bearer of the SPLM and this will give you the legitimacy that is being very much challenged now;
- On security and civilians-military relations, instructs the organize forces especially those that escorts you and other VIPs and those that do security checks to stop harassing and intimating citizens on the roads, it is not good for a free country like South Sudan. Also find it in your own budget as a Vice President for economic cluster to sustain these security personnel because it is embarrassing when a national security personnel (soldier) begs ordinary citizens and even worse, foreigners for something (money) for water;
- Last but not the least, avoid sycophants and gossipers, they have messed up President Kiir and they can mess you up badly because you are still young and your tempers maybe high compare to President Kiir as any misinformation can make you take wrong actions and this will not befit your current status and the load of responsibilities that you have been given.
In conclusion, I am giving you all these advices free of charge and out of the fact that you are now our President in waiting and the sooner we start helping each other albeit indirectly, the better as we move toward the democratic transition of our Country.
Adv. Juma Mabor Marial
Juba, South Sudan.
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