Parliament should have impeached president Kiir for defying lawmakers:
journalist
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July 19, 2013 (JUBA) – A political activist and veteran journalist has
challenged the South Sudan national assembly for failure to impeach
President Salva Kiir over his rejection to implement a resolution
passed by the lawmakers to punish 75 corrupt officials he had informed
lawmakers about.
JPEG - 42.6 kb
South Sudan President Salva Kiir (EPA)
Alfred Taban, the Editor-in-Chief of the Juba Monitor newspaper, in a
roundtable debate on Friday and broadcast on the widely heard
UN-sponsored Miraya FM in South Sudan and abroad, said the national
parliament had failed to exercise its constitutional obligation to
fight the rampant corruption that has been hampering development of
the nation for the last eight years.
He said Kiir defiantly refused to implement the resolution passed by
the nation’s parliament, asking him to suspend and investigate the 75
former and current officials of his government and prosecute those
find guilty of stealing the public funds.
In a letter he wrote to the suspects and presented to the parliament,
the president said the officials were responsible for the
disappearance of up to $4 billion during the six-year interim period
of the former semi-autonomous government between 2005 and 2011 prior
to independence.
The president however refused to implement the resolution of the
parliament which was meant to support his fight against corruption and
instead reacted by threatening to dissolve the parliament; a move
which silenced the lawmakers over the matter.
Taban said he was disgusted by the silence of lawmakers on the matter,
adding that they should have reacted by summoning the president which
could have led to his impeachment.
“The parliament should have impeached the president”, he said, while
challenging the SPLM-led executive and parliament for failing the
nation.
The veteran scribe, who is also a member of SPLM, accused the ruling
party leaders for failing the test in the last eight years.
However, Peter Bashir Bandi, a member of the national parliament
representing Mundri constituency in Western Equatoria state, rejected
the generalization of failure among the SPLM leaders and the party,
saying it was only a small clique within the party that had corrupted
the system.
SPLM PERFORMED ABOVE AVERAGE
The roundtable debate was generated by the results of the survey
released on Friday in the capital, Juba, which was conducted by the
US-based International Republican Institute (IRI) in the various
counties of the ten states of South Sudan.
The survey which assessed the people’s responses to the various
affairs of the nation painted a bad picture of the status quo,
particularly on issues of governance, and put the SPLM performance at
68%.
The survey involved over 2,500 respondents from different sections of
society but was criticized for by many observers for inaccuracy as
language barriers were believed to have not provided the correct
understanding of the questionnaires.
Majority of the people in the rural areas do not speak, read and write
English and Arabic.
The SPLM-led government was criticized for failing to tackle
corruption, insecurity, tribalism and the accompanying lack of
development and provision of basic services to the people who suffered
for decades and came out of war.
The rate given to the president, Salva Kiir had fallen much lower 71%
from 93% votes he secured during the 2010 presidential elections.
Alfred said the president’s rating in the survey was largely based on
his memorable legacy for successfully implementing the CPA and
achieving the independence in 2011 and not based on the current bad
situation the country faces in the nation building.
He said the SPLM leaders had proven to be failures in the nation-state
building, saying the corrupt practices with impunity by its members
had spoiled the name of the once powerful movement.
Despite Kiir’s repeated declaration of zero tolerance on corruption,
many people believe that he doesn’t have a genuine political will to
fight it.
Eight years down the road, only 1% of the 10 million populations in
the country have access to electricity.
The country has only over 200kms of paved roads out of the estimated
10,000kms of roads network across the country.
It has some of the worst health indicators in the world while more
than half of its populations are food insecure.
The newest country on earth was ranked in the fourth position of the
world’s failed states, but officials criticize the conclusion arguing
that the two-year old nation needed time to mature.
(ST)
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