ByMark Otwari Odufa
The Council of Ministers in a meeting chaired by the president Salva Kiir Mayardit, and having received report presented to the cabinet by an ad hoc committee formed several months ago to look into the issue of the capital, decided that it should be relocated to Ramciel. The Minster of Information and Broadcasting, Barnaba Marial Benjamin said that the decision was reached in consideration of the current situation in Juba as reported by the Juba Post, September 7th -14th, 2011. The Minister went on to say that there has been “protracted stalemate” between the national and state governments over the status of Juba as the capital which has hampered development of the city because both investors and individuals could not find land to invest or build houses on. He further said that another factor was the decision taken by the Bari Community asking the government to relocate from their land.
Meanwhile, the Transitional Constitution, he said, stipulates that Juba or any other location in South Sudan shall be the capital. In a consultation meeting with the ad hoc committee chaired by the Minister of National Security, Oyai Deng Ajak, former minister of investment, the Bari Community in Juba presented the recommendation to the committee urging that the capital should be relocated from Juba to anywhere else in South Sudan.
The Central Equatoria State government welcomes both the national and state governments to coexist in Juba town a situation rejected by the former which also rejected other options offered by the latter.
“In 2003 the late John Garang de Mabior resolved that Ramciel be the new capital for South Sudan. However, the decision was reversed after an appeal from Equatoria intellectuals and elders who wanted Juba to remain the capital”.
The unnecessary search for the capital of South Sudan other than Juba that finally landed in Ramciel is due to a series of lack of political will to settle disputes legally, firmly and amicably.
The situation where we are in today regarding the location of the capital can be traced back to Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972.
First, during the Addis Ababa Peace talks, General Joseph Lagu accepted to talk to Abel Alier, a brother instead of General Numeri himself who was his foe and of equal political rank. This acceptance justified the fact that the problem was a southern problem and therefore to be solved by southerners themselves. May be General Joseph Lagu did not have enough power to dictate the terms of negotiation with Nimeri.
General Joseph Lagu left the command of Anyanya 1 and joined politics leaving Numeri to take over the command of the orphaned Anyanya. This gave Numeri the opportunity to manipulate the Anyanya soldiers including their transfer to Khartoum and being replaced by northerners in the south. Had General Joseph Lagu retained both the military command of the Anyanya and the political role, might be Numeri would have found it difficult to manipulate the Anyanya and the Dinka Bor cattle keepers’ conflict which later occurred with the Bari Agriculturalists into a political stepping stone of divide and rule tactics thus resulted into “Kokora” (division).
Second, the Dinka Bor cattle keepers brought in their cows which invaded and destroyed the Bari field crops. This brought conflicts between the Bari and the Dinka Bor, a situation similar to what happened between the Murus and the Dinka Bor cattle keepers and what is currently taking place between the Madi and the Dinka Bor cattle keepers in Nimule and other areas in Magwi County of Eastern Equatoria State. (This case needs to be immediately resolved to avoid unbearable escalation of hostilities).
Both Joseph Lagu and Abel Alier failed to resolve the problem amicably leaving it to degenerate into wider political conflicts involving students, civil service and other societal groups. Numeri as earlier said had no political will to resolve the problem because it served his objective of fuelling conflicts among southerners.
Third, as the situation gained political dimensions, the government of Joseph Lagu and Abel Alier decided on “Kokora” as a means to resolve the problem. President Numeri blessed it since it served his policy of divide and rule. Many Equatorians and I were against it but there was nothing we could do since it has been decided by the Regional government and Khartoum.
The “ Kokora” though a precursor of federalism brought a lot of resentment to all south Sudanese.
Fourth, the ensuing confusing situation precipitated into a military rebellion that gave birth to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement lead by Dr. John Garang de Mabior. It is alleged that many Dinkas particularly from Bor joined the movement as a means to revenge on Equatorians because of “Kokora”.The SPLM/A drew much of it lessons from the failures of Anyanya 1 lead by General Joseph Lagu; a fact confirmed by Lagu himself. He became an inspiration to Dr. John Garang de Mabior and hence the success of the SPLM/A which culminated in the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on January 9th 2005, in Nairobi, Kenya.
Fifth, as we were contemplating to come home and implement the would be CPA, Dr. John Garang de Mabior in 2003 recalled the “Kokora” episode and the political manifestations it entailed as a precursor of federalism, wisely decided to resolve the problem once for all by deciding on Ramciel to be the capital of South Sudan. However, the decision was reversed after an appeal from Equatoria intellectuals and elders who wanted Juba to remain the capital. Rumbek was temporarily chosen to house the capital of south Sudan while the Sudan Arm Forces (SAF) was given time to vacate Juba.
No sooner had the SPLA/M entered Juba than scramble for land began with the old animosity and suspicion remerging with various parties accusing each other of land grabbing. Some point fingers at the Dinkas while others accused the Bari elite including chiefs of grabbing land from the ordinary Bari and selling it to the Dinkas and other South Sudan communities. The Nuers are less frequently accused of alleged land grabbing. The national government and the Central Equatoria government are on the other hand accused of failing to come up with land policy that would resolve the issue once and for all.
Land grabbing is a criminal offence that should be dealt with legally based on the accepted laws regarding land ownership. The Central Equatoria government welcomes the national government to coexist in Juba a fact rejected by the latter. The Bari Community in Juba wants the capital to be relocated from Juba to anywhere else in South Sudan. Now suppose all the South Sudan communities take the Bari stand on land issue regarding the location of the capital, where will the national government locate its capital?
According to the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan, the land belongs to the community. This idea was adopted to prevent the Arabs from grabbing our land. Today we are an independent country and our government is the caretaker of our land. It defends it from external aggression on behalf of the people of South Sudan. The South Sudan communities are the custodians of this land in their respective geographical locations. Whenever the national or state government needs land for development, it has to consult the respective community. An area is located and demarcated and the price negotiated usually at the current market price. Once agreed, the compensation is done and the land vacated for the development to take place. In case of refusal of the offer by the government, eviction takes place depending on the importance of the project and the suitability of the location for it. This occurs in most cities in the world. This is where the national government and the Bari Community in Juba seemed to have failed to reach an agreeable position and hence the decision to relocate to Ramciel. The idea that Juba is nearer to the border of Uganda and therefore of security risk is nonsensical.
Recently, the Aliab community of Ramciel wants to be included in the preparatory phase of Ramciel as the new capital of the Republic of South Sudan. Let us hope that they will not follow the Bari community in Juba by wanting the capital to be relocated elsewhere if the national government does not agree to their terms.
Recommendations
1-The government should resolve issues immediately and amicably to avoid them degenerating into wider political dimensions that would spiral for years to come. A committee needs to be set up to investigate the causes of “Kokora” that seems to inject in us a simmering feeling of division which is very dangerous in our new nation. Most South Sudanese youth do not know the causes of “Kokora” and are apportioning blame unnecessarily.
2-The government as a caretaker of land has an obligation to acquire land anywhere in South Sudan for development provided the community which is the custodian is adequately compensated according to the current market price.
3-In case of any difficulty in locating the site of the capital of the new country, a referendum as suggested by one of our citizen, should be conducted to enable the South Sudanese to agree on a given location. Once agreed, the community of the given location should be compensated adequately at as per the market price. Although Ramciel can boast of centrality, Juba is more advantageous economically as analyzed by Ateny Wek Ateny in his article in the Citizen, Tuesday, 20 September, 2011.
4-The bone of contention that has bedevilled our nascent nation seems to be the endemic corruption. No stone should be left unturned when dealing with corrupt cases.
•The case of Dura or maize scandal involving billions of dollars should be thoroughly investigated and the culprits brought to book. The suggestion that the investigation on the scandal should be shelved, comes probably from those who had a share of the loot and do not want to be exposed to the people of South Sudan as thieves.
•All ministries and commissions should be subjected to investigations by the Anti-Corruption Commission just like what was done to the Ministry of Health to clear their names of any wrongdoing since 2005. A clean bill of health can be issued to those found innocent to continue delivering services to the people of South Sudan. The culprits should be netted and dealt with according to the law. This would give a fresh start in our nation building.
•The same investigations by the Anti-Corruption Commission should be applied to the disbursement of Constituency Development Funds (CDF) by respective MPs to find out if the funds really reach the people on the ground.
•The top management and the senior staff (except the technical staff) need periodic reshuffles or transfers to other ministries or commissions to avoid boredom and entrenchment in certain positions that would brood corrupt practices which are unacceptable to the institution and the country.
•Corruption is a social disease which is worldwide. Different countries have different ways of solving it. In China, those found corrupt are sometimes punished by sentencing them to death by firing squad. In our case, the culprits should be asked to refund the stolen loot and their names be exposed to the public as a way of be shaming them.
•Retired civil servants and those in the Arm Forces should have their past records examined. Those found clean thus devoid of any corrupt practices should be given National Awards as a symbol of good national service. This would motivate others to follow suit for the betterment of our country.
In conclusion, the relocation from Juba to Ramciel should not be misconstrued as a means of resolving land grabbing in Juba for the same can happen in Ramciel as already indicated by those who claim ownership of the so called No mans’ land. There should be no revenge victimization of certain ethnic groups perceived to be the architect of anti- land grabbing scenario in Juba. Ramciel being a confluence of the three greater regions of Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile is a convenient or ideal place for the new capital where expansion of the new city will be at equidistance in all the three directions.
However, the relocation to Ramciel should not be a priority as of now since we have the infrastructure, agriculture, health and education just to mention a few to be accomplished as soon as possible as a means to resuscitate our economy and move forward development wise. This goes in line with the President speech during the 9th July 2011 independence celebration which required South Sudanese to focus more on basic services delivery to meet our great expectations.
When I see children looking healthy and going to school, I wondered whether their lives would not be interrupted as what happened to ours. May God the Almighty guide us safely in charting the road map for our children to have a brighter future in our new country.