South Sudan leaders must now narrow national priorities
* Article
* Comments (6)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
*
*
*
*
By Isaiah Abraham
July 28, 2011 — We have been liberated, thanks to four millions lives
lost. The land is finally free, and the challenge now is whether the
new nation has carefully identified its national priorities to kick
start development and progress. Too much paper work has been done and
the obvious dilemma however is whether we have chewed more than what
we couldn’t swallow. This is where we are coming in this piece of
note.
The leadership in Juba granted never wasted time even before the
Declaration of Independence on July 9, 2011. There are ambitious plans
about everything ranging from security to capacity building then
institutional development, health, agriculture and education. But to
these leaders each one (area) is a priority and a must.
Our situation at the moment requires specific but manageable
priorities. The ranking of priorities for a new nation is a hangover
from our period before a state; and this should have been corrected
right away. I could still see security and the Office of the President
with fat budgets, an omen indicator that nothing is going to come out
from Juba to our people at Lobonok Payam, Chaggari Payam or Akot.
Security to this author isn’t anymore a priority, because not every
County is affected by violence. Our priorities should change. We have
poor road networks across our land and hunger that beat each and every
county. Again not every Payam has rebels or shields from bombs. We
have a Southern child dying together with mother under complications
during child birth. These are real issues.
So what do we do? Well, there is an urged need to make use of our
indices for each sector and come up with concrete priorities that fit
our socio-economic circumstances. I feel strongly that the army budget
has been in the sky (huge) and should be clipped. The public has a
feeling that for the past few years, the money sent to the army has
ended up in the pockets of generals to build bungalows and educate
themselves in South Africa and the likes overseas. The military
account books generally are hardly a domain for Auditors and God knows
when their accounts will be audited. We are talking here of why it is
necessary to slash the army budget in favor of roads, health,
education and agriculture.
The Head of State Office moreover has a large budget and often his
team overshoots it. We have category in there (in the presidency)
named as donations, a bad budget that should not have been allowed by
budget planners. Why should our president be allowed to ‘bribe’ his
people? Donations after all limit the president from visiting his
people. If for example he goes for one visit and dish money and in
another with empty hand, he would be unfair to the later. The
president is a leader for all. He donates schools, health centers,
roads etc not cash.
Let’s tour briefly history about other countries that have succeeded
rapidly through clear cut priorities. Singapore until Wee Kiim Wee
(Huang Jin Hui) took over in 1985 was classified as poor and
struggling, but soon after 1993 when President Wee left the country,
that Asian nation leapfrogged even those who then seemed to be
powerful economically and socially there. How did he make it where the
first president Yusof Bin Ishak failed? The answer lies with proper
national examination and careful identification of national direction.
At our current political status, we will definitely need another Wee
to turn things around for the greater good of South Sudanese. Machar
might be another Huang! Freedom or glory isn’t alone enough, it must
be translated to what an ordinary man or woman needs in the country.
Malawi next door was plagued by hunger under Presidents Hastings Banda
and Bakili Muluzi but Binga Wa Mutharika the current president put the
matter to rest once and for all. Hunger there is in the past tense
there. Libyan in the North of Africa was also one of the countries
that picked up from nowhere to its envious situation, where now the
West is laboriously fighting to install a puppet regime that will
guarantee their access to Libyan wealth. I see no justification for
toppling Libyan Government on the behest of outsiders with vast
exterior motives. That country will not be the same but another Somali
in the North.
Uganda is believed to be the bread basket for East and Central Africa
and the secret is all about what the government did earlier in its
strategic plan. The food majority of our people eat in our urban
centers come from Uganda despites our similar environmental status.
South Sudan is under difficult times of national planning and
somewhere we must learn from the experiences of others. I look forward
that our decision makers in Juba take the issue of food for our people
as item number one. Second, there has to be enough investment done on
our roads, because roads are important infrastructural element of
development. Leaders should not waste time going overboard
prioritizing everything. One or two things at a time; slowly and there
we can move our bars to others. Basic needs first others later
(Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs). God bless South Sudan!
Isaiah Abraham writes from Juba; he is on [email protected]
--
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.
