South Sudan’s unfinished business

President Jakaya Kikwete, Vice President Mohammed Gharib Bilal (fifth left), Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda (fourth right) and Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue (fourth left) pose with ministers and deputy ministers after they were sworn in at State House yesterday.  photoS | EMMANUEL HERMAN 

By FRED OLUOCH

In Summary

• One of the major challenges after South Sudan’s independence in 2011 was the need to reward all shades of the south Sudanese

The outbreak of violence in South Sudan in mid-December was a culmination of simmering issues that were largely ignored by the international community which was more concerned with the making of a new nation than dealing with its teething problems.

They include an interim constitution that grants President Salva Kiir immense powers, a dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party that is yet to embrace democracy and respect party structures and is mostly managed through military principles.

Others are: A highly militarised society that is yet to embrace democratic institutions of governance; arms in the wrong hands and a tendency to resort to violence to achieve political ends; and the indiscipline of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) which is a former guerrilla outfit that is yet to transform itself into a conventional army.

One of the major challenges after South Sudan’s independence in July 2011 was the need to reward and accommodate all shades of the south Sudanese society which has resulted in a situation where people are appointed into positions even without experience and the educational capacity to handle the jobs.

In the absence of major investments, the government remains the biggest employer where everybody is scrambling for a piece of the pie that is the country’s civil service.

Thus, post-independence South Sudan produced three types of people who are supposed to work together in the civil service but are competing with each other, owing to their backgrounds. This situation sometimes becomes an impediment to foreign investors and visitors seeking services.

First, there are those who previously remained in Khartoum-controlled areas in major urban centres such as Juba, Malakal and Wau. Even though they might be Christians, these people have internalised Arab culture in terms of their clothing, language, culinary habits and their worldview.

They believe they deserve a bigger share in the government because they were the ones who were brave enough to remain while others ran away. Some of them studied in Arabic and cannot communicate in English, the official language. In the second group are those who came from the bush and who were fighting in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Some of them were trained earlier, became soldiers and were rendered redundant after 21 years of war. They have developed a military culture, with neither diplomacy nor skills in modern management styles.

When given positions, they act with militancy and impunity, and often abuse their offices. Yet they feel that they deserve more because of the risks they took.

Most of them are ill-educated demobilised soldiers, who mainly work in the police force, prison or wildlife service.  Some of them are old, and with injuries incurred from the war, but have been rewarded with civil service jobs for their service to the society.

Then there are those who came from the diaspora. This category attained some good education during their time in exile, but also acquired different cultures whether from Kenya, Uganda, US, UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere.

Besides their varying outside influences that are often in conflict with each other; they come with different attitudes and technology that cannot be replicated in that environment. Often, they find themselves frustrated and out of place.