“Our ministries should be run by people of high integrity who are qualified for the job. They should be people who can perform and deliver, not busybodies who want to occupy offices to represent communities or tribes. Tribal representatives who will be held hostage to their tribal chiefs have no place to occupy in the new dispensation.”
Politicians and their hangers-on are spending sleepless nights lobbying for ministerial and diplomatic positions.
Tribal gangs are also making a beeline to State House to suggest names of their sons or daughters to be appointed to this or that high profile position. This is a headache for the president: who does he include in his cabinet and who does he leave out?
Those lobbying for positions don’t care whether they qualify or not, they just want jobs at all cost.
There are those who were in the defunct GOSS cabinet and didn’t deliver yet they want to hang on, because if they lose their jobs, V8s, fat salaries and all, they will end up tramping the streets of Juba, foreign or no foreign bank accounts.
There are those who had dipped their itching hands into government coffers and probably didn’t even use the money to buy a water pump or grinding mill for the benefit of their communities, yet they want to be given another Oliver Twist helping.
There are also those who think the government is a mother drum that belongs to them, and they want to cling to it like a bunch of hornets.
And there are the passive bystanders who are enjoying the unfolding drama with glee.
It is rumored or being strongly suggested that the new cabinet will be leaner and trimmer yet representative. Balance here may mean regional not ethnic or tribal. In this case we are talking of Bahr El Ghazal, Equatoria, and Upper Nile regions. Somebody is asking ‘what about Abyei?’That is a good question.
After learning from the mistakes of the interim period when we were still learning the art of running a government, we can say let the right person be put in the right place. But who is the right person when each and every person says they are the right persons?
The task of building the new nation is robust and therefore it needs giant efforts. It requires serious, committed and hardworking patriots.
Nation builders are the embodiment of good leadership, good stewardship, servant leaders. They should translate and implement the vision of the government in the context of a well-defined mission. No more sloganeering and chanting please. It is the dawn of a new beginning and work has just started.
Our ministries should be run by people of high integrity who are qualified for the job. They should be people who can perform and deliver, not busybodies who want to occupy offices to represent communities or tribes. Tribal representatives who will be held hostage to their tribal chiefs have no place to occupy in the new dispensation.
We want ministers who look at issues from a global perspective, taking into account the interests of the whole country. Remember, we are now a republic, a country, a sovereign state.
We want ministers who can bring about a swift paradigm shift towards sustainable development that creates jobs and improve the lives of the ordinary people who have great expectations and hope in their government.
We want ministers who want to make a difference, not paramount chiefs who pontificate on swivel chairs receiving a string of visitors who do not contribute to nation-building but wasters of the nation’s time.
We want ministers who are comfortable with modern technology, for without science and technology we will continue importing eggs and fish and soap from other countries that lack the natural resources we have.
Unproductive minister with stale ideas because they cannot cope with the complexities of building a modern state should better go home to dig, rear domestic animals or run a profitable public transport business of bodabodas or mini-buses.
The story that is doing the rounds in the social media and Juba rumourmill is that there are more than 500 politicians who have lined themselves up for ministerial positions. It is not surprising because the government is seen by some of our people as a cow for milking, period. Watch this space!
