Why is President Kiir saying “NEVER” to ICC before the 2015 elections.....and many others?!!!
The “Coup” and Implications for Security Sector Reform in South Sudan
At a hastily convened press conference on December 16, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir announced to a stunned nation that the army had quelled an attempted coup. Kirr, who had swapped his trademark dark suit and cowboy hat for military fatigues at the press conference, accused former vice president Riek Machar and “his group” of orchestrating the alleged coup and vowed to bring the culprits to book.
The alleged coup comes in the wake of a significant fallout between two centres of power in the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party. One group is allied to Kiir and another, to Machar. The rift in the SPLM emerged last year when Machar, who was then a sitting vice president, openly told the president that he was going to contest for the chairmanship of the SPLM in a convention slated for this year. Machar said his decision was motivated by Kiir’s leadership failures. Pagan Amum, the powerful secretary general of the SPLM also told the president that he was interested in the top seat in the party. In essence, anyone elected as chair, automatically becomes the party’s flag-bearer in the next elections in 2015.
Miffed at the challenge, Kiir orchestrated a process of stripping the two of all powers and responsibilities in the party and government. This process culminated in Machar’s dismissal from the vice president’s position and the subjection of Amum to house arrest and restricted travel locally and internationally in July. This month, Machar and his group called for a convening of the SPLM’s top decision-making organ – the politburo – to decide the fate of the party and the leadership question. Kiir ignored the call for obvious reasons; he has little support in the politburo.
But Kiir’s reference to a coup means the consequence of the fallout among South Sudan’s ruling elite is now being manifested on the military front. This move has significant implications for the country’s future, especially with regard to security sector reform in the armed forces.
To understand this crucial dynamic, it is important to note that South Sudan’s army, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), is still in the throes of an uncompleted reform process aimed at professionalizing and de-ethnicizing the former guerilla army. Outwardly, the SPLA brags of being a national army. In reality, it is far from being a homogenous unit that answers to a central command. Within it, the SPLA is plagued by a plethora of cleavages based on ethnic, regional, and political axes. In recent years, the SPLA absorbed thousands of militia soldiers, predominantly from Machar’s tribe, the Nuer. For reasons of geography and history, the SPLA’s top echelon is predominantly from Kiir’s tribe, the Dinka. In essence therefore, the SPLA has various centres of command. The very idea of a coup, allegedly staged by Machar’s group, is proof of the disparate composition of the SPLA and a rollback for any security sector reforms enacted so far.
The disparateness of the SPLA is also encapsulated in an accusation leveled at Kiir by Machar’s group last week, in which the president was accused of forming a private army in the name of the presidential guard. Observers praised the presidential guard as a beacon of hope because of its diverse ethnic composition. However, the firefight that resulted in the coup allegation emanated from the guard. This again dispels any notion of homogeneity in the SPLA.
Kiir is increasingly under pressure for various reasons. Top on the list is the government’s utter failure on the service delivery front. The government’s failures have resulted in challenges and criticism about Kiir’s leadership from within the party and from the general population. There are signs that the government is not taking this criticism kindly. The media is increasingly coming under heavy censure by the intelligence service, of which there are two directorates that answer directly to the president’s office, rather than to the minister of interior. This is an area of contention because the intelligence service has sweeping powers and does not answer to the judiciary. Although there is a move afoot to reform the intelligence act in the National Assembly, the process is bogged down by various factors, including lack of political will.
The clampdown on Machar’s group, resulting in the detention of about 13 high-ranking SPLM members, most of them former cabinet members, is a continuation of an increased process of consolidation of powers in the office of a president under duress. For security sector reform, this may enlarge the cleavages within the SPLA and possibly exacerbate the divisions within the army.
Ultimately, an army that lacks cohesion and adherence to a central command threatens the very existence of the state. At present, there is no end in sight for the political squabbles in South Sudan and the country is staring at a bleak future on the security sector reform front.
Brian Adeba is an Associate at the Security Governance Group
Why is President Kiir saying “NEVER” to ICC before the 2015 elections?!!!
BY: Justin Ambago Ramba, UK, MAY/28/2013, SSN;
No wonder that the elections season has begun in Africa’s newest country of South Sudan and it’s now every ones talk how the incumbent president is for sure going to make it head to head with his vice in case no other third or fourth contestants show up in the last minutes. It is against such a background that this article would try to shade light on the country’s latest developments, the last being the president’s infamous declaration never to allow his new country be a signatory to the Rome Statute. In other words he is opposed to joining the International Criminal Court (ICC)!!
As a South Sudanese myself- allow me to begin by registering my condemnation of what came in President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s speech on the 50th anniversary of the OAU/AU in Addis Ababa. The leader whose country is the newest member of this historical African body expressed his disapproval of the ICC by sarcastically stating in his addressing speech that although many African states were the first to sign the Rome statute, unfortunately the thing has now caught up with them as is the case with president Uhuru Kenyatta and his vice William Ruto of the republic of Kenya who took office after winning a March election while under indictment from the ICC for inciting some of the ethnic violence that followed their country’s disputed 2007 vote.
Given the historical background and the geographical location of South Sudan, Uhuru Kenyatta, who pledged the creation of roads, rail and pipelines to deepen economic ties between Kenya and the new nation, is neither the first nor the only ICC indicted head of state to do business with the country.
Juba still struggling to settle many post secession issues with it’s on and off foes in Khartoum, had already gone on record for laying red carpets to another ICC indicted president – no other than Omer al Bashir of Sudan – who also presided over this region until the 9th of July 2011 when South Sudan became officially an independent republic.
President Kiir in a characteristic show of bravado dismissed the ICC and as if to show off to his guest President Kenyatta who paid his first visit to Juba by echoing the ongoing statements by other African leaders that the court seems to target Africans.
Let’s us face it – the African continent had suffered from ethnically driven politics and still continues to do so under the types of Salva kiir, Yoweri Museveni, Omer al Bashir, Robert Mugabe, Paul Kagame and of course Uhuru Kenyatta himself who is an up to date living example of a tribal politician.
The history of how the ICC came into being is a clear one and no doubt that many African countries have approved it. In the same vein many African countries than any other; now lead the list of those who voluntarily referred their cases to the ICC due to their countries’ incapability to handle the cases. This was the case with Uganda, the DR. Congo and the Central African Republic (CAR).
The case on the Sudan was on the other hand referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council since the country hasn’t rectified the Rome statue although being an initial signatory to it.
The argument that the ICC only targets African leaders or people can only bother those who commit crimes against humanity with impunity in Africa and they happen to be heads of states or people high in the governments of their countries or some powerful warlords.
This being the case the current focus of the ICC on African situations when seen in its right context also means a focus on African victims. And if you or your loved ones are those at the receiving end of this gross injustice in this continent, then lie assured that the ICC is serving you. Maybe often perceived to be very slow – yet it’s the best you can ever get in this unfair world.
Of course African leaders have to be concern about Africa’s dignity. Nobody opposes that, but we are saying that it cannot come at the expense of the very justice that these leaders often deny their people.
Take the example of a country like South Sudan and look at its Justice, law enforcement and Judiciary systems. For no penny it won’t take you long enough before you find out that its president’s attack on the ICC is entirely baseless and can better be described as no more than a copycat type of behaviour.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, his vice William Ruto and another Joshua arap Sang, the three have their cases now in front of the ICC judges. This is their cross to carry and shouldn’t in anyway be made to look as if their appearance before the ICC is in any way degrading to the African continent.
There was that talk about local courts or even AU hybrid courts being suggested by others as alternative courts to try some of the low profiled indictees in crimes against humanity committed in Sudan’s western Region and it didn’t work. So why are some people suggesting the same route at the AU by demanding that Uhuru Kenyatta and his group be referred for trial at local Kenyan courts ?
The Kenyan indictees of the ICC know their roles in the 2007 massacre and they are aware as anyone else is – that it takes a lot of money and leadership without which such well – orchestrated violence wouldn’t have taken place. This we have learned from the Rwanda genocide.
Why are we not grateful to The ICC which through its actions have worked the magic to bring Kenyatta and Ruto together and thus prevented another post elections massacre in the 2013 elections? Yes it is so; no way can one go all the way to say that because the enemies of 2007 are now “good” friends then, the court should as well scratch off their cases. This is not justice!
There is no such a thing like “African Justice” or “European Justice” or “Asian Justice” – there is only one “Universal Justice” which must abhor not only international economic injustice, but must be uncompromising against all forms of crimes against humanity.
Coming back to our incumbent president of RSS, Salva Kiir Mayardit and his rekindled ambition for yet another term in office, after securing the backing of his home region of Bahr al Ghazal on the back drop of a tribal numerical size, he can as well proceed to prepare for all sorts of ethnically-directed malicious activities before, at and after the 2015 elections.
Nonetheless a unanimous backing for Kiir’s candidature by citizens of Greater Bahr al Ghazel is a thing easily said than can be verified before the real elections. The widespread resentment for his leadership is vivid in Western Bahr al Ghazel State where dozens of citizens were massacred by government security agents during a peaceful demonstration in the city of Wau town on 9th December 2012.
Based on the generally poor performance of the judiciary and law enforcement in the new country, president Kiir’s declared position to keep the country out of ICC membership is justifiably seen by a large section of the population as one of his many attempts to block off any chance of justice for the victims of the countless crimes committed under this government.
A keen observer can’t rule out the possibility that president Kiir has it in his plan to use the country’s non membership of the ICC in order to secure impunity for a likely post 2015 general elections violence in the country.
Given the back ground of what happened during and after the 2010 elections when all independent and non SPLM candidates and their supporters were subjected to wide range of harassments, mistreatment, torture and detentions the average citizen is convinced that the president and his die-hard tribal base is capable of carrying out all kinds of unlawful acts just to keep him in office.
Regardless of all these noise about some quitting the ICC while others don’t even want to join it, the truth is that many countries and communities especially those with weak legal institutions and power hungry leaders like South Sudan, Kenya Uganda, Rwanda, DRC, CAR, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and many others are bound to benefit from the ICC.
It is true that birds of the same feather fly together, and no wonder that despite the bitter enmity that exists between Museveni (Uganda) and Kiir (South Sudan) on one side and al Bashir (Sudan) on the other end, yet they have one thing in common, and that’s their greed for power. These people see in the ICC a threat to their plans to keep to power while they kill their kinsmen with impunity.
Can we the down-trodden peoples of Africa do something to save our countries by not voting again for these persons who persistently continue to deny us our most basic human rights and freedoms?
We must stop all these tyrants from running this continent as if it was their personally property.The bottom line is that if a country is a member of the United Nations, then there is no way that the leaders who commit crimes against humanity can escape the ICC! Stop all these rubbish about quitting or not joining.
Author: Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba. Secretary General – United South Sudan Party (USSP). He can be reached at: justinramba@doctors.net.uk
Diu J.Kuek says:
President Kiir says he’s ready to stand side by side with his friend Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya as the reactions from South Sudanese people some saying Mr President you are absolutely right but I can say Mr President is wrong for some specific points. it seems African leaders are demonstrating against ICC policy toward African continent as a tool to use to recolonize or discriminate the African leaders.
But yet it’s not an excuse for African leaders .
Rome statute protocol has been adopted with very clear principle including to protection against human rights violation around the World not only in Africa, ICC is not for African Leaders or African Criminals, it has been applied to whole World. let us take an example .
1, Asia Cambodian criminal is under trial
2, East Europe former Yugoslavia Republic one of the accused died in prison, one has been acquitted this year
3, South America has two criminals cases from Argentina and Mexico.
4, African Countries been indicted and not yet been indicted as Sierra Leone and Liberia relevant case of Charles Taylor, Rwanda, Uganda Joseph Konyi, Sudan criminal cases Omer Bashir, Ahmed Harun and Ibrahim Mohmmed Hussien for Darfur crimes, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto for 2007 election violence and Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Gadaffi’s son Saif el Islam and Sunosi and so on.
African Leaders should not take an excuse against the ICC regarding for on going terrorists war with the Western nations as there is crimes has been committed by western nations as violation of human rights its totally different from African leaders cases, the difference is our Leaders killing their own people and western nations fight to defend their own people,
So we can see the facts of this case let’s take Afghanistan ,Mali ,, Iraq, Somalia , Sudan, Pakistan and Palestine these Countries are terrorists states.
So our leaders should not take this as an excuse for them and they deserve ICC because they fail to uphold the democratic principle and good governance.
Long Live ICC
Long Live UN judicial organ.
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anok maketh says:
This is real, whether we like it or not. President Kiir has clearly been rooting the policies of “divided & rule” for the last 8 years. This has resulted to all the injustice, organized killings, orchestrated violence like the Jonglei enthnic clashes, all these seemed to have been copied by Juba from Khartoum only to be imposed on the poor S. Sudanese who has long rejected the same from the very united Sudan.
As you mentioned Dr. Justin, the keen observer like yourself & others that Kiir’s recent rejection/criticism of ICC membership is part of 2015 election plan. No doubt that this is disturbing to watch unfolding in broad daylight & no one seemed daring to say anything about it. Descending into regional or ethnic based politics like the recent conference in Wau in the name of Greater Bhar El Gazel is very worrisome & everyone should be worried about what this means. What’s the president trying to achieve by sponsoring such event when the country can’t afford to celebrate an important symbolic national event like 16th May?
As you mentioned Dr. Justin, the keen observer like yourself & others that Kiir’s recent rejection/criticism of ICC membership is part of 2015 election plan. No doubt that this is disturbing to watch unfolding in broad daylight & no one seemed daring to say anything about it. Descending into regional or ethnic based politics like the recent conference in Wau in the name of Greater Bhar El Gazel is very worrisome & everyone should be worried about what this means. What’s the president trying to achieve by sponsoring such event when the country can’t afford to celebrate an important symbolic national event like 16th May?
There have been a lot of allegations about presidential secret agents (Tigers) who many blame for some organized murder like the case of Isaiah Abraham, Banyjoth Tap e.t.c which have tarnished the image of S.Sudan, now what? Is kiir going further to form his home based popular Defence Force to protect his presidency in 2015 & beyond as mentioned on an outcome of the conference or what? check the “sudantribune.com on the latest about the “Greater Bhar-El-Gazel conference” comrade Malong Awan & Nyandeng Malek arrived in Juba this week to brief the president.
Kon kel says:
Bravo Dr. Justin, We cannot allow greedy, corrupt, the blind who don’t have vision, to rule again in this countr. indictment of Uhuru has nothing to do with South Sudan. Our president is contradicting himself, is like defending Bashir in other way. Enough is enough.
MALITH ALIER says:
Kiir is now the darling of impunity by supporting Kenyatta and the likes
Kong Puok Tongluot - Finland says:
Dear, Dr Ramba
I really like the way you always emphasize analysis and political interpretation. Yes, a general election lobby and campaign have begun already in South Sudan upcoming 2015, even a last oldest man knows that.You shoudl kick off in your party.
I really like the way you always emphasize analysis and political interpretation. Yes, a general election lobby and campaign have begun already in South Sudan upcoming 2015, even a last oldest man knows that.You shoudl kick off in your party.
Case of ICC following Afria Unity’s 50th anniversary which had stressed by many African’s leaders allegedly ICC that a way for hunting African’s leaders. I agreed with African’s leaders that ICC it must has had to been drafted an unify costitution which determine and limit any Presidency term in United Nation General Assembly in Newyork due to limited any long term beng corruption and depraved behaviours in continent.
Why is President Kiir saying NEVER to ICC before 2015 election ? President Kiir has putted a drone strike pssibilty in view, The same way of Kenyatta’s ICC trial may be it could take on himself. He has putted plan to continue an immunity if he won election 2015, that’s outstand queue to support Kenyatta.
bolabokdit says:
Justin Ambago
You have really pointed out a crucial point given the current situation in Africa, we need a just and high court to bring people like Omar Bashir to Justice. We are people who take responsibility for our action and we are people who believe that others should be held for theirs. What is wrong with ICC? ICC is pursuing rebel leader of uganda because of killing civilians. ICC is looking for Omar Bshir for the same reason and there are so many examples. There is no alternative court African leaders can replace ICC because Thambo tried that in case of Bashir but it failed to bring Omar to justice. Look Thabo Ambeki said in his position as mediator between sudan and south sudan that African are capable to handle their problems. the result everything which was agreed upon is going backward instead of go forward. We need ICC because Omar Bashir is continuing abusing sudanese population and bind by the law. Omar ignored also all agreement signed from CPA to Cooperation Agreement signed in Addis Ababa. This kind of person deserved punishment. African leaders should not sympathized with ICC when the court is working for their interest and reject court when the court is working for people’s interests. African if the ICC is paralysed by African leaders than there is no hope unless people resort back to the state of nature.
Choromke Jas says:
A storm is gathering for the son of Mayar: the Wau massacre, the UN Indian peace-keepers killings, the massacre of Murle civilians and others are the stuff of ICC. If a citizen were to complain to the ICC now, an investigation would start immediately to establish the role of Kiir in these killings. Why should it surprise anyone that he now sides with prima facie criminals such as the ICC inductees?
A country, South Sudan, that survived because of campaigns by human rights activists cannot afford to take sides with criminals. Kiir is unwittingly drawing attention to his potential criminal culpability. Watch out the purveyors of impunity in the South, the ICC is about.
A country, South Sudan, that survived because of campaigns by human rights activists cannot afford to take sides with criminals. Kiir is unwittingly drawing attention to his potential criminal culpability. Watch out the purveyors of impunity in the South, the ICC is about.
Bentiu Captain
May 30, 2013 at 5:27 am
Dr.Justin Ramba
President Kiir will commit genocide in 2015, that is why he is saying Never to ICC.
President Kiir will commit genocide in 2015, that is why he is saying Never to ICC.
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The Making of a Tyrant Salva Kiir: Not yet Uhuru!
BY: Joana Adams, RSS, AUG/27/2013, SSN;
It is high time the SPLM tore down the misleading slogan of “equality, justice, freedom and prosperity for all,” which litters our streets and invades our public spaces. Recent events in the country have demonstrated that the president is a dysfunctional and fundamentally wicked man who is gradually stripping away our human liberties and dignities.
Human beings are by nature autonomous, it is the ability to make autonomous decisions which differentiates man from animals. It is for this reason that we must vigorously defend and protect our hard won freedom and independence.
Over the last 8 years, Salva Kiir, the man whom southerners thought was a “good-guy” in contrast to his predecessor, late Dr. John Garang, has gradually transformed himself into a national monster. We gave him the chance, because each time Salva did something wrong, we never called “a spade a spade” but gave excuses on his behalf, just as we did during the liberation struggle when we never wanted to “rock the boat”.
This mentality continued as late as 2010 during the general elections, when we had the chance to scrutinise his credentials but didn’t. By the time of re-writing of the Transitional Constitution 2011, it was too late to challenge President Salva or hold him to account. The incumbent had already consolidated his grip on power and very few dared to oppose him.
The lawyers whom the country thought they could rely upon, to use their professional expertise and judgements to deliver for us a Constitution worthy of the name, failed the nation. They chose to appease Salva Kiir to protect their jobs and privileges and gave Salva Kiir a Constitution which made him above the emerging nation’s supreme law. And now the president is using it with vengeance.
What is alarming is that within a short space of two years, Salva Kiir has turned the country which our people won with their blood and sweat into a personal kingdom. Initially the people of South Sudan wanted preservation of the federal provisions in the Interim Constitution 2005; they also wanted a clear separation of powers— firstly, between the three organs of the state: i.e. the executive, the legislature and the judiciary at the national level; and secondly separation of powers between the federal government and state governments.
They got none. Even the sacred Bill of Rights for which southerners fought consecutive Khartoum regimes, sacrificed and died in their millions for is being routinely derogated.
Just to emphasize the point, President Kiir has further damaged our nascent state institutions by appointing his relatives to head our judiciary and the Bank of South Sudan. Why are we surprised when injustice is the order of the day and millions of public funds are being siphoned daily into external private accounts and fake companies?
It has finally come to light that the President actually writes directly to these appointee relatives instructing them what to do, thereby, directly interfering with established institutional mechanisms and procedures. By so doing, he is not only violating our Constitution but is fundamentally dismantling the very foundation of our nascent country and its fledgling democracy.
In the most unprecedented manner in the short history of modern South Sudan, the president turned monarch rules by decrees. Worst of all, in peace time, southerners are being killed daily by their own security forces under the careful watch of the President.
We may not like it but it is fair to say that there is blood in the hands of the incumbent president, Salva Kiir Mayardit.
In deed there is no other way to describe Kiir’s regime other than that it is a system ”rotten to the core”; a statement which made the eminent Professor Nyamlel Wako, the former deputy minister of foreign affairs to be swiftly dismissed. This Professor who like many others abandoned his relative comfort in the US and answered to the call of nation building is now being humiliated and literally being made to roam the streets of Juba.
If there was no tribalism, the Professor should have actually been the then minister of foreign affairs to be deputised by Nial Deng and not the other way round.
The painful contradiction here is that whereas Salva and his inner circle are barking that there are no qualified southerners to run our systems, or develop policies, he is following the footsteps of former African dictators who were essentially anti-educated people, and did their part in forcing exodus of educated nationals into distant and foreign countries.
Today we are sadly seeing the learned from amongst us being silenced, eliminated or forced into exile in neighbouring countries. Extermination of our educated people who should be helping to lay the foundation for our economy, industry, technology, education, medicine… etc. should one day be accounted for.
In a short period of time, the president has become addicted to abusing power and abusing his people. If we thought that Salva Kiir would lead us to freedom from the atrocities, oppression, marginalisation and dehumanisation by Khartoum, and into the celebrated promised-land for all, we were mistaken.
Little did we know that our very own “liberators” in the form of Salva Kiir Mayardit, the boy from Warrap, would waste no time in turning our hard-won independence into a play-ground for testing his man-hood.
Salva Kiir can now remove elected governors at will. He has removed an elected VP his running mate during the 2010 general elections without observing the Transitional Constitution 2011, which requires him to secure 2/3 parliamentary majority should he desire to remove the former Vice-President.
I am not a supporter of Riek Machar, not yet, but this was unconstitutional and the truth must be said. Only people who have sold their souls and lost their consciences can celebrate when our Constitution is being violated.
True to the point, as people were still reeling from the political tsunami unleashed by sacking his entire cabinet and removing the elected VP, the newly emboldened President wasted no time in trimming the horns of Cde Pagan Amum, the Secretary General of the SPLM.
Salva Kiir has now clearly demonstrated that he is the absolute ruler in South Sudan. He sees himself as immune from the safeguards of modern democracies; does not contemplate any SPLM party rebellion or impeachment by his parliament.
If you are still not convinced, look at the arrogance and disrespect he treated elected MP’s. Instead of lobbying the MP’s in a civilised manner to support his nominee, Wani Igga, for the post of VP, without provocation, he lost his temper and threatened to “dissolve the parliament and make the lawmakers roam in the streets”, (Sudan Tribune 24th August 2013.
“The President came in with bad mood and introduced to us Cde James Wani Igga for his nomination as the new Vice President. Then he started to threaten us with dissolutions and dismissals. After he finished with his threats nobody spoke and the meeting ended like that. We will now sit today as parliament to see what to do”. What could they do? Within hours, the Parliament capitulated and like a spoilt child, Kiir got his way.
But Kiir needs to be reminded that he has no right to treat elected MP’s contemptuously just to boost his crumbling ego. By so doing he is not just disrespecting individual MP’s, governors, elected VP, and the list continues, he is disrespecting the will of the people of South Sudan.
If Kiir doesn’t respect our Constitution, he doesn’t respect our Institutional structures and mechanisms and clearly doesn’t respect our elected representatives, what gives him the right to rule over us?
The people have given him so much, not that he deserves it, not any more in my opinion, but what has he given back in return, in this social contract between the ruled and the rulers?
If he was frustrated because the Parliament rejected his nominee, infamous Telar Ring, in any game or competition, there are winners and losers.
Kiir is not only intolerant to criticisms but doesn’t expect to be challenged by colleagues in government. In short he is a very bad looser. In modern democracies, we need leaders who are emotionally balanced and can honourably accept defeats.
As we position ourselves for the upcoming elections, we now need to dissect the attributes of not just Kiir the man but also Kiir the father and Kiir the husband. If a president can charge at his MP’s and SPLM Parliamentary caucuses at that, what example is he showing to our army as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and what example is he showing to the country at large?
Some people might be stuck in the past but whether we like it or not we live in the 21st century and it is high time we start scrutinising not just the academic credentials of our prospective leaders but also their characters and the manner they present and conduct themselves in public. After all these people once elected will represent us at home and abroad, and this should concern us.
To prevent repeat of situations where some African despots in not too distant a past, showered bullets on colleagues in cabinet meetings, we need to weed out the emotionally unstable candidates in the public interest.
Kiir, Equatoria and Cde Wani Igga
We also live in an era where models of good governance to include participatory, inclusive and representative democracies – democracies that take into account the different political variables or diversities in a country; democracies that do not discriminate on the basis of ethnicity, religion or gender.
South Sudan is essentially a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society. In Kiir’s latest cabinet, there is a gross under-representation of Equatoria which got only 3 out of 19 or 20 cabinet portfolios. I stand to be corrected but one ethnic group has 10 or 11 members while most of the 60 or so tribes that are unrepresented in the national government look on.
This situation is replicated in the security services, the judiciary and in the diplomatic services. Eastern Equatoria state has no ministerial representation apart from Obuto Mamur who sits in the presidency.
Could you imagine Warrap, Lakes or Jonglei states having no ministerial position in the federal cabinet? Hell would break loose!
And yet in his political machinations, Kiir is trying to woo the people of Equatoria whom he has marginalised and oppressed for 8 years by a simple vice-presidential post for Wani Igga. This is cheap politics.
If Kiir didn’t fall out with his former VP and SPLM guru Pagan Amum, he would never have remembered that the seat of his government is in the land of Equatoria. This is not the time to support the man who is allowing our people to be killed day and night in Juba and elsewhere in South Sudan.
Let us remember that history always repeats itself: once a dictator, always a dictator.
If we make the mistake to throw in our lot with Salva in less than a year after the election in 2015, we will be crying foul again. Let us be clear about one thing, Salva doesn’t want the people of Equatoria but only wants their votes come 2015.
If we support Salva then we must forever hold our peace when he moves in his tanks or brings in mercenaries to clear our land of people in not too distant a future.
Going back to the Wani Igga issue, the question one could ask is, what is that Wani can do as a Vice President which he couldn’t do as Speaker of the national parliament? Which position is more powerful in the eyes of Wani Igga?
Is Wani interested in personal glorification, and being called a good boy or as a good parliamentarian he should have been first and foremost interested in representing and protecting his constituents?
His very constituents are being butchered daily and he has not been able to offer them justice. After raising the expectation of the latest victims in his constituency by summoning the security ministers to account, he has abandoned them yet again.
Was Wani’s sudden appointment a sabotage to ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous double murders are left at large?
If Wani was more interested serving his people, then he should have remained in the Assembly to exercise the Constitutional mandate to hold the executive to account and especially to impeach the President over the many violations of our Constitution.
If however what he wants is being a yes man and to entertain the increasingly paranoid president with his famous song: baba ja…..blah blah blah, baba ja blah blah (my father has come….) then indeed being a deputy is what he deserves.
It must be said, moving from the third most powerful position in the country to the second most powerful position is not bad at all, it is a personal best for a man from humble beginnings. Good luck to comrade Wani.
No one would have taken Wani’s claim to contest for presidency in 2015 seriously and it is good that he has now declared otherwise. Wani Igga, it must be stated, is an individual who may represent the SPLM but does not represent Equatoria.
It is also important to read between the lines about Kiir’s malicious intention to divide the Southern people according to tribes or regions. There should be no ill feelings from our allies over the case of Wani.
It will be an over statement to assume that just because Wani Igga accepted the vice –presidency, reportedly rejected by Nuer nominees allegedly in solidarity with their dismissed kinsman, Riek Machar.
Wani’s acceptance of the rejected offer doesn’t automatically mean that Equatorians now all support Salva Kiir. That would be a gross overstatement. Equatorians are not just worth a vice-presidential position.
Infact accepting what has been rejected by others means that Wani was not the first or trusted choice of the President. This alone speaks volumes, but it is best to leave the matter to rest.
Not yet Uhuru
What we now need to focus on is to ensure that Salva Kiir is punished for his irresponsible leadership of our country over the last 8 years. Over the last 8 years, the SPLM government he presided over, did not only fail to deliver peace dividends in the forms of services, security and general development.
The SPLM government under the careful watch of the security officer turned president, has introduced new vices in our society. It will be fair to say that more people have died in the hands of the SPLM government than they did in the hands of jallaba at least in some quarters.
Places that didn’t know violence before are today routinely being rocked by senseless killings as if there is no government in the land. Speculations that these atrocities were being committed by security agents fell on deaf ears.
Kiir may come from a generation in South Sudan who believed that when you come from a so-called majority tribe then you are immune to safe guards of modern democracy.
In the theory of number politics, as long as you are from a majority tribe, you will always win, so unlike in Western democracies, you have no incentives to govern well.
Kiir has destroyed our institutions; he has destroyed our beloved federal constitution; he is destroying even the SPLM party. Quite astonishingly he is disabling our assemblies rendering them in effective. The good news is that this time there is no boat to rock, therefore we must stop Kiir and get things right come the next elections.
The war of liberation was fought by all communities in the territory called South Sudan not just Kiir alone. From the war archives of south Sudan we still need to see those battles Kiir led and won to justify elevating himself to the position of a hereditary monarch.
What we know is that he was a malleable follower who never had the courage to articulate his views on critical matters. At least late Dr. John Garang might not have won any battles but he did fight the war of ideas rather successfully.
These individuals and communities Kiir is oppressing and suppressing today have all sacrificed through blood and sweat for the freedom that we attained in July, 2011 which we are supposed to be enjoying today.
With good governance, there is enough land and natural resources for every South Sudanese now and in the future. We do not need to fight over land because every community in South Sudan has their ancestral land which government has no right to confiscate.
We do not need to fight over who should lead us because we have democratic processes to determine that, and it must be emphasized that the Constitution guarantees every southerner the right to compete for the highest office in the land.
National leadership is not for Dinka or Nuer alone. Every southerner from any community can aspire to become the president of this country if he/she has the ability and ambition to lead. It is not a crime to aspire for leadership position in your country specially that presumably no one is now a second class citizen in their own country.
Therefore it stands to reason that we should stop demonising those aspiring to contest for President, whether they are Lam Akol or Riek Machar or anybody else for that matter.
Leadership Attributes
But we need to be careful about our choice of leaders. We need leaders who though not necessarily PhD holders but must have sufficient education to comprehend and appreciate the complexities of today’s world and should be able to function autonomously in advanced technological era without always relying on advice of tribal mafia to the detriment of the nation.
We need leaders who can think with their heads and hearts and who can empathize with or feel the suffering of their people.
We need leaders who will promote equal opportunities for all and not practice indiscriminate tribalism or nepotism.
We do not want leaders who routinely allow or encourage guns to be turned against their citizens instead of using them to protect us and our borders.
We reject leaders who divide communities for political advantages or to square off old scores, whether this happened in 1991 or not.
If the history of the liberation war was clean I am sure the meticulous Dr. John Garang would have insisted on a whole set of Protocols on forgiveness and reconciliation. He didn’t which means no one was clean in the theatre of war. And this must include the late doctor, Salva Kiir, his former VP and other commanders.
History should not be remembered just to target individuals we do not like or wish are dead. The last 8 years has provided us with enough data to discern who is a good leader and who is not. This is what we should now focus on and not some tribally coated witch–hunting.
To conclude on this piece, Kiir has allowed atrocities to grow unabated in our land. He continues to violate even the Transitional Constitution 2011, which he imposed on us against our will.
Kiir is the champion of unprecedented institutional tribalism, not to mention kleptocracy with impunity. Under Kiirs leadership South Sudan has gained the reputation of a failed state and is also officially one of the corrupt countries on the continent.
He is on record for creating the fastest police state the continent has ever witnessed. This man is destroying the very foundation upon which our nation should be built, what further evidence do we want?
The gallant peoples of South Sudan fought wars with oppressors and colonisers spanning over a hundred years, starting with the Turco-Egyptians, then the Anglo Egyptians and finally the Northern Arabs. They had little or no education education and little weapons but fought with spears and arrows against machine guns but did not capitulate.
It is often said that no one can oppress you without your consent; even battered housewives have the choice to walk away.
It is now our responsibility as autonomous thinking human beings to stop Salva Kiir from damaging our country further and from destroying our dreams and expectations of a free, democratic, and prosperous country for all to enjoy not just a select few.
We owe it to ourselves, our children and grand children and the future generations at large. We owe it to the many who are aggrieved and denied justice. It is our responsibility to leave South Sudan a better place than we had found it not worse.
So that the dear sacrifices we have all made in blood, tears and sweat shall not go in vain. Because as Odinga Oginga, would have put it, for many people in South Sudan today, it is not yet Uhuru.
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