Opponents of South Sudan Draft Constitution must give us a break!
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By Isaiah Abraham
May 19, 2011 — I must state first here that opponents of the South
Sudan Draft Transitional Constitutional ought to give a break to
whining each passing moment in our political journey, especially after
this period when we almost settling. They must read the document
again, think through why each clause was drafted that way before they
embark on a hullabaloo to discredit the government the parties that
drafted the Constitution. Everyone thought we have graduated from
small politics of ‘unless it done by my man or women’ that whatever
must be rejected and criticize.
Reading through the minds of the so-called opposition groups, we have
unfortunate and wasted youths, tired so-called politicians (they
proudly called themselves opposition groups/parties) when in fact they
are busy bodies only after the down fall of the people of Southern
Sudan. Their future from day one has all but about sabotage and
conspiracy against the people of the Southern Sudan. Please opponents
of our people pause and allow us to celebrate the independence of our
nation with full joy.
The President of South Sudan His Excellency Lt. Gen. Salva Kiir
Mayardit must be a happy man like me by having a caliber such as Hon.
John Luk Joak in the capacity of an Attorney General for the Southern
Government. His efforts along with his technical team have produced
one magnificent document (known as Draft Transitional Constitution) of
all times. Our leader Kiir has indeed come out of age; he has talented
men and women in his cabinet, we should be proud of their dedication
for their services to the people.
Mr. John, will be remembered fondly for having crafted a perfect
constitutional ‘revolution’ within national legal framework. By then
in 2005 some of us were ardent opponents of the Interim Southern
Constitution due to its loud silence on cohesion of our diverse social
setups. Mr. Luke and his team in the just about to be pass Draft to
the Legislators have proposed damn legal infusion that will pay off in
twenty or so years to come. But in one word about the Draft, the
document is a blend of all, and has series of legal promises and
dictates that are very appealing to our deeply rooted social problems.
Of course constitutional precepts are about generalities, and grand
policies on how we want to look like. To fine tune grand ideas one
must break them bits to arrive at the nitty-gritty of each line. But
the process isn’t always rosy; it takes years and centuries as
stakeholders would love to see their interests written and respected.
In our case we were lucky to have a committed team, men whose focus is
the Southern public not just political parties they represent. Today
we have a Draft short comings notwithstanding, we should be proud and
thanks our brothers and sisters for a job well done!
But Mr. John went away with bruises as he wrestled out the document
from opportunists and pretenders. He still being demonized for ‘sins’
not of his own. He was after the future of his people, nothing more.
The physician turned politician named as Justine Ambago in particular
has poked his ugly mind into personal life of Mr. Luke; the man fumes
and wrenches at Luke individual political life, as if Hon. Luke was
personally dictating terms and references passage by passage and
chapter by chapter. He called him names and end up cursing the SPLM as
a whole and then infer the leader of that party in a more subtle
manner. Before him was Mr. Lupai, an agriculturist and the boy from
America whose world is around Nuer, Nuer and only Nuer. We don’t need
to have ethnic urge itching their way to our constitution, that card
is outdated and must be shunned by men with this land in their hearts.
Though the Draft is meant to take care of the Transition Period
leading to election in 2015, the prospects of doing it away after that
Period are indeed nil. The Draft will be refined and will continue on
its current status with little touches on peripheral matters. This is
a living fact! It might not be 100% perfect, but this author believes
strongly that we have just started on a right footing
I have been dreaming about Mogga becoming a Commissioner in Maiwot
County and Gatkuoth becoming a minister in Western Bahr El Ghazal
State. Our current Draft will surely make this happen in few years to
come, something decentralization or federation won’t do. On the
contrary, decentralization would have thrown this beautiful land to
endless crisis of ‘mine’ vs ‘his’, ‘this region’ against ‘these
people’. In fact is not about decentralization or unitary system of
governance that matters but how does each system work for a common
good of an ordinary man or women. Federalism in our social context
(diversity) in a third world country is a bad system; it must be
allowed to die slowly! Devolution on the other hand, closer to
decentralization is more of a shared responsibilities and not
necessarily semi-autonomous under federalism. We have chosen to have
half federalism and half unitarily.
But the noise about Presidential powers in the Draft or
decentralization quest is just pretext and nothing else. First our
president needs to be empowered because we are slowly slipping to
anarchy, that piece of the law is necessary, at our status! Mr. Kiir,
at least for the next two years, must be mandated to restore an ensued
chaos caused by rebellion by our own sons. Mr. Kiir and Dr Machar or
others behind them are matured and I for one trust their leadership
skills. The fear about abuse of power by these men will not arise. You
may call them dictators but that will not make them dictators. For the
past few years, we have tested them, and know who they are; they
behaved decently despite our too much demands on our side
The so-called opposition groups have no right to cry wolf about being
ignored; it was them who walked out during the discussion of the Draft
when the period they thought could have been 1 year was rejected on a
sound ground of logistical and financial implications of going for
another election so soon. They had hoped of staging another coming
back from the seats they have lost badly to their opponents currently
in Parliaments. They must shut up and owned the process irrespective
of gray areas they seem improper. After all constitution isn’t a
panacea to every socio-political and economic problems.
Secondly, the opposition groups were yearning for sharing of power
with the SPLM party something I believe would have been absurd on the
side of the SPLM if they had accepted it. Sharing of power? For what
basis can the SPLM share power with those that lost election fairly
and squarely? They lost election and if they want to come back, they
should wait the next turn and do the necessary preparation to punch
afresh. For now the game is over, the people of the South are sick of
bickering by small section of our society when the majority has
decided to give the SPLM the benefit of doubt. They might be corrupt
and govern poorly, but the same people have guided our land to its
desired destination. We need to appreciate one another and stop
pulling one another down just because my uncle or tribesman isn’t a
president.
I still have trust in the wise leadership of Kiir-Machar; let us cease
from insulting them when it is about time to give applause they truly
deserved. They human like any of us even if we don’t wish away the
ugly habits by some of their tribesmen. We should keep faith in them
and do something about our ethnic hatred eating up every time we want
to move a step forward. Mr. John and his team have done us pride; the
House shouldn’t play politics. Mr. Kiir ought to remember Mr. John and
his team in the next government. I prefer going by this ‘dictator’
called Kiir or Machar than someone who changes faces.
Isaiah Abraham writes from Juba; he can be reached at [email protected]
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