South Sudan Nation State: A need for a right start with federalism BY: Bor Gatwech Kuany*, SUDAN
JUNE 25/2011, SSN; The people of southern Sudan will declare their independence within a few days after a bitter struggle that has spanned for half a century and killed more than two million people. The struggle was waged before the official independence of the Sudan itself and fought by rebel movements that have allegedly accused the northern riverine tribes of marginalization and racial and religious motivated discrimination where power and resources are centralized in Khartoum. Alas, the south will be officially independent on July 9 come rain or shine. But will the south prove the north wrong after the amicable separation? Will the south be able to establish a system that will avoid the image displayed by the dead old Sudan? Or the ruling elite could probably say we are a baby and must wait! In the current debate of the transitional constitution designated to guide the nascent state of the south for four years, some prominent politicians and leaders from various sectors in the government have argued that we need a government with power centered on the national presidency in particular or executive in general because of the following reasons: 1. We are too young for a federal democratic system. 2. South Sudan is an illiterate society that could not understand the basic tenets of democracy. 3. The region is ripe with rebellions and armed insurrections that need an iron-fist to quell. 4. The incumbent President is to be given the transitional period and the people will do their own constitution after four years time. 5. We need dictatorship to unite the hostile south Sudanese tribes so they become a nation state. 6. All governments or nation states formed after war must centralize power. Firstly, I have to assert that I don’t agree with any excuse that will deny the people of south Sudan total freedom and dignity. I therefore like to affirm that I refute the above excuses with the following responses: 1. We are too young for a federal democratic system: I don’t totally agree with this argument. In fact I have some questions for those who argue that we are too young to establish a decentralized federal state: Is it the people or the nation who is young? And who will run the other? Is it the people who will run the state or the other way round? The reality is that South Sudan will be the youngest nation at world stage, but the people who will form it were in British colonial government, the Arab dominated governments of the Sudan and all the rebel movements that have been fighting successive regimes in Khartoum. So how come you tell me today that we are young to form a federal, democratic nation state in the world with this immense experience at our disposal? What did the Irish and British convicts have to form a commonwealth federal democratic constitution for Australia in 1901? What did Christian converts have to form the federal democratic United States of America 200 years ago? For your information, the constitution of the United States of America didn’t evolve over time, but drafted by the founders of that nation right at the creation of it. So don’t adjourn things to later days that we are too young to form a federal democratic nation now. The people of south Sudan shall break away from the old Sudan and form their own nation state because the Sudan was wrongly started. The people who will form this nation state have immense experience within and out of the Sudan that is now disintegrating. We were Vice Presidents, Ministers, Members of parliament, Army Generals and Ambassadors in the Sudan that we are walking away from. And we walk away from the Sudan simply because it was insufficiently established. So we need a better system that satisfies our aspirations like what happened to those who found the free world. And how can we say we are young now to establish the best system of government in the world when we have that immense experience? Should we establish something less than the Sudan that we are walking away from by claiming that we are young? And so why do we waste time walking away if we are still a baby as claimed by some politicians and leaders? We have to be with our mother and father until we grow up to walk away! To my best knowledge, the only type of governance that could cement our effort to establish a viable nation state is federal system. We have been in a centralized system in old Sudan that we vehemently rejected during our referendum. It doesn’t matter who is centralizing power or resources, it all hurts. We have to allow our people to have a say on how they could be governed to avoid failure. We have to prove the north wrong by decentralizing our power and resources!! 2. South Sudan is an illiterate society that could not understand the basic tenets of democracy: I totally concur that many people in south Sudan cannot read and write, though no tangible statistics has ever been recorded. But what are those tenets of democracy that could only be understood by a university professor? Did it take us to read and write for us as people of south Sudan to know whether the north was treating us fairly or not? If not, why do you want all of us to go to university first to make south Sudan a democratic country? The reality is that it does not need a human being to go to school to know about his/her basic rights. Democracy is all about fairness, freedom and upholding of basic human rights. Illiterate people know about these basic tenets and so let's not adjourn democracy in the new south Sudan until everybody is literate! 3. The region is ripe with rebellions and armed insurrections that need an iron-fist to quell: I agree that the south need to strongly confront all those who break its laws and illegally run militia activities. But this cannot be a license for dictatorship. Furthermore, it is important also for our leadership to know that lack of freedom can be a recipe for rebellion. We need to differentiate between dealing with criminals and legitimate quest for freedom and fairness. 4. The incumbent President is to be given the transitional period and the people will do their own constitution after four years time: The incumbent President of the people of south Sudan is a man with a legacy. He is one of the founders of the historic SPLM/A. He fought side by side with our late leader, Dr. John Garang. He contributed immensely to the struggle both through war and peace. He took his scepter and smitten the sea so the people of south Sudan could go to the other side of the Red Sea before the enemy could catch them. He is now safe with his people in the Promised land. I don’t really understand why he could beg the people of south Sudan who extremely trust and revere him to be given power to take them back to Egypt again. What do you want my president to do in the next four years without your people? If I were you, I would do the following towards, on or after July 9: • Tell the people of the south to write their own constitution whether transitional or permanent. • Accept their offer for me to head their nation state during the transitional period. • After successfully establishing the Federal Democratic Republic of South Sudan during the transitional period and having signed the permanent constitution for them, requests my party SPLM to prepare somebody else to take over. • Start looking after my family. In this way, I would remain the President of this country beyond life and another Mandela of south Sudan. 5. We need dictatorship to unite the hostile south Sudanese tribes so they become a nation state: The people of south Sudan are typical in the world. It is a proven fact that you cannot dictate them to adopt an ideology. Dr. Turabi is a living witness to this fact. Southerners rejected Islamic state of the Sudan. They rejected Western imperialist colonization. They will also reject southern national state that is dictatorial. The tribes are already a nation state. I learnt that one of the reasons why leaders intent to concentrate power in the center is to prevent tribes breaking away further to form their own nation states or join other existing nations. I think this is completely outrageous and delusional. The people of south Sudan have a living history that unites them as a nation. There is no need to invade each tribe to form a southern Union with the rest. They have already fought for it, so there is no need for any aggression. The people of southern Sudan just need freedom to develop their cultures and languages to build a bigger Union of south Sudan in diversity. I don’t think that there is any tribe who intends to form its own state or join Uganda, Kenya or Ethiopia. And even if it may be the case, dictatorship would not be the solution to such an issue. Only democracy that makes unity attractive is the only solution to everything for us to make a perfect Union and a viable state. 7. All governments or nation states formed after war must centralize power! I totally disagree with this concept. There is no connection between liberation struggle and concentration of power in the center. Of course some argue that the south must have a centralized government at the start to be able to establish a functioning bureaucracy. But we have to learn from other people so we don’t commit the same mistake. For example, the case of Eritrea. They have centralized power since time of their independence with the pretext that they want to establish an accountable and effective system. But where are they now? A failed state! And our bigger example should always be the old Sudan. Let's prove the North wrong by establishing a free nation in the south. * The author is a member of Sudan National Assembly and can be reached at [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.
