Political and Military tensions continue to distract South Sudan and exacerbate its woes By : Lok Franco Kok, South Sudan
APR. 7/2011, SSN; The spirit of rebellion is closely associated with the spirit of pride. Those walking in the spirit of rebellion don’t try to hide or restrain themselves from what they want. They will walk over you or even step on you in order to acquire what they feel is rightfully theirs. They are openly defiant and have no fear of any body and even the leaders. As the government deals with the re-emerging militia movements, what did it learn from the experiences of the 1990s, from the disastrous split of the SPLM/A which was caused by the same Government's mishandling? Does it sound good that the 1991 chaos could repeat itself once again? Nepotism… Favoring relatives because of their relationships rather than their abilities and merits is what rules the government in South Sudan. It merely results into corruption because of self interest, under the table negotiations, illegal protection due to debt of gratitude and other political crimes leading to claims of conflict of interest, favoritism, and discrimination. Continuation of nepotism in the government institutions could create more rebellion and could destabilize the security situation throughout South Sudan. There may be inequalities but they tend to be distributed and evened out by the various forms and distributions of wealth and leadership throughout the entire population. South Sudan civil society is vulnerable to corruption. A society may be more vulnerable to government corruption when there is little transparency in government transactions, power is relegated to the hands of a few decision makers who are not held accountable to the masses, and when there are no checks and balances on the political system. The existence of diverse and competing interests is the basis for a democratic equilibrium. As the mishandling of these cases came to light, the radical right made unprecedented inroads into the mainstream. Militias flourished. And it was not surprising that there should be a re-emergence of such militia groups as the government fail to take an immediate actions. Unable to deal with the complex reasons for the administrative collapse, certain that sinister forces are at work in Juba undermining Southern power and attempting to selling out the nation to our former enemies. Politicians softened their rhetoric insisting that they are not linking any armed groups destabilizing the civil security in the south and pretend to distanced themselves from such groups. A distinction can be drawn between conflict of interests involving actual, potential or reasonably perceived conflicts between public duty and private interests, and conflict of authority is the main cause of rebellion in South Sudan. A good leader do not jeopardize the life of his people. The continuing political and military tensions in south Sudan undermines the government's ability to tackle the new Nation's multiple crises. On the political front, the government needs to to implement No-tribe and inclusive all-parties governance policy to strengthen democracy in all civil institutions. And on the security front, it needs to shift from violent military operations to delivering better governance (integrating the tribal belt into the political and institutional mainstream) On the economic front, the government needs to improve domestic revenue collection...instead of relying on international assistance. and stimulate the economy through well-channeled incentives key sectors and social protection schemes. Failing to tackle these crises could imminently lead to social unrest and the increased influence of conservative political and military chaos. The concern about the prospect of 2010 election and related political instability which risk undermining government's fight against deserters. This is an aspect which informs the weak, valueless, one-minded institutions of the New state, flawed legislative system and constant struggles for political power to the detriment of the well being of our Nation which could have moved on a path of development as part of modern societies. In order to address the theme of peace and the relevance of peace value to south Sudan, there is need to reflect on and critically the view that south Sudan is a country on chaos. In the foregoing, I argued in the article that the view that south Sudan will be a country on chaos is a notion, which fails to recognize the positive development and security stability. This view also fails to recognize the solution to the major problems in the new nation, as well as leadership problem. Furthermore the notion that South Sudan will be a country on chaos is a view point that seem to confine the nation to a static position where it operates in a vacuum and is indulgently involved in its own self-destructive tendencies. The South Sudan political instability and other related problems are basically a consequence of its leadership problem. At domestic level, Southern Government is run in a way that should have been regarded as far from the modern state system of governance upon which they should model. However, it should be noted that leadership per see is not a new concept to Southern Sudanese's traditions or cultural practices. The forms and context could be different, but the systems of governance in many cultures had characteristics that can be found in modern system of governance. Letting ourselves down this time will be a big shame, as south Sudan civil society is going to celebrate its well recognized victory on 9th July. The government needs to act pass to make sure that independent celebration is done in a quite peaceful climate. The author reside in South Sudan and reachable through:[email protected] COMMENTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent those of the website. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
