Implementing Austerity in South Sudan "What it should mean for a people who have known only austerity, time immemorial"22 February 2012 Implementing Austerity in South Sudan
By Nyantung Ahang Beny (Gurtong, February 21, 2012) - South Sudan, we are told, has entered into a period of austerity due to the shut-down of oil production. Austerity is called for because oil constituted all but 2% of government revenues in South Sudan. When millions of South Sudanese have only known austerity all their lives, what does this really mean? What should it mean? Because the majority of South Sudanese have always suffered and have had little, austerity measures should be born disproportionately by the well-off, in my opinion. In this light, the following is a preliminary, and non-exhaustive, sketch of possible revenue-enhancing and/or cost saving measures that the relatively well-to-do might consider bearing on behalf of the average South Sudanese who has known little but austerity for most of her (or his) life: -Auction off all government-owned V8s and landcruisers. I am sure that international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are awash in virtually unlimited cash will pay good prices for these vehicles, which are an absurd sight in a land where the majority of people have never taken a spin in even a compact vehicle. The funds thereby raised may be used to replace such four-wheeled spectacles with fuel efficient compact cars, as in Bostwana, an African country that has been relatively successful at controlling government waste and consumption. -Auction off all privately held residences (and other real properties) that were purchased or built from money whose legitimate source(s) cannot be traced. This will require several technical, legislative, political and international diplomatic maneuvers, including, but not limited to: domestic and international legal authorization to trace assets through inevitably convoluted chains of ownership, no doubt deliberately structured so as to avoid detection; domestic and foreign political will to unravel chains of asset ownership; determination of legitimate vs. illegitimate sources of income of government officials (the constitution defines in part what are legitimate sources of income, but as in any legal matter, there will be complex issues of interpretation). -Fully eliminate travel allowances and hotel fees to the children of the elite powerbrokers. I have observed that many of these children come from as far as Australia and other extremities of the universe. I have also observed that many times it is not clear what they are doing, productivity-wise, in South Sudan. Often, they seem to me to be merely partying, club-hopping, and/or attending beauty pageants, weddings and other economically non-productive venues. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with these events, don’t get me wrong. However, such events are trivial in the grand scheme of South Sudan’s chronic needs, especially the needs of those who have only known austerity since birth. And, such events are economically unproductive. As such, they should be self-financed. Not publicly financed. We need to remember where we come from and we need to be humble, no matter our station in life. -Tax, tax and tax hotels. In my visits to South Sudan, I have observed that hotel owners seem to making out like bandits. I can stay in a five star hotel in New York City (not that I have even done so) for a month at a fraction of the cost of a pre-fab, dilapidated, smelly, lop-sided hotel room in Juba for a month. This is an enormous potential tax base. The same is true for other service- and entertainment- based sectors in South Sudan. (How about also taxing beauty pageants, which also seem abundant and lucrative in South Sudan, another potentially huge tax base?) -Massively fine or tax illicit behaviors, such as prostitution and the drug trade. I observed prostitution in broad daylight in many places in Juba. That’s another potentially huge tax base. -Drastically reduce per diems, allowances for traveling abroad for workshops and other lavish, generally non-productive, adventures that the elite are prone to engage in. Social media (such as Facebook, where self-gratifying photos abound) provide ready evidence of the lavish lifestyles of this particular segment of society. -Re-deploy redundant government staff to the emerging private sector. This will be tough on so many levels. For one, many people have become accustomed to receiving paychecks for just “showing up” (and, often, even for not showing up). In addition, such a maneuver may require foreign business owners to increase their employment of locals (i.e., South Sudanese), via quota or other mechanisms. By implication, it may also require re-negotiation of any contrary Bilateral Investment Agreements or Treaties (also known as BITS) between South Sudan and other countries, and possibly even reformation of South Sudan’s Investment Act which is based on principles of “non-discrimination” (that may be neutral in practice but discriminatory against South Sudanese in effect). In turn, this will require standing up to multilateral organizations whose primary aim is facilitation of western investment in South Sudan. -Set up institutional, collective, stand-alone (i.e., not individual-dependent or personality-dependent) structures to monitor the flow of funds into and out of South Sudan’s financial coffers.This is also a technical, legislative and political maneuver, easier written than done. But it is not impossible. -Condemn and penalize conspicuous consumption by governmental elites, whose only apparent source of income is a government salary. I do not feel the need to elaborate here. A trip to any village in any area of South Sudan should rapidly drive this point home, I believe. Why should the elite openly consume when the vast majority of people live in dire survivalist mode. (And, after all, dust goes to dust, so what is a Gucci hand-bag or a Boss suit in the grand scheme of things?) -Allow the elected (to be distinguished from the politically appointed) members of Parliament to address their constituents’ concerns. Specifically, give them the space and institutional mechanisms (and safety) to answer their constituents’ natural question, "what are our representatives doing on our behalf?” -Let the aforementioned do their work as servants of the public and allow them to take to task those who have breached the implicit "social contract" entered into by S. Sudan’s Mothers and Fathers, Grandmothers and Grandfathers, Great Grandmothers and Great Grandfathers (and so on down the ancestral line) who died for "the cause" in all manner of ways – by the sword, the spear, the gun, the womb, the pen, etc. – that all South Sudanese shall be free and prosperous. Let us remember that all South Sudanese, regardless of current station in life, come from humble rural origins where austerity has been and continues to be the perpetual norm. And, in allocating austerity, let the first come last and the last first. May the universe bless South Sudan. Nyantung Ahang Beny, February 21, 2012. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" 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/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
