South Sudan’s current economic woes – is there a strategy to exit from it?

By Joseph Ring Lang

 

Government Departments like Finance, National Planning, Trade, Industry, Agriculture, Energy and Mining (just to mention a few) do they know how to exit from our current economic woes which are felt by everybody?

Our current economic woes do our Executive Wing of the Government have a solution to it? The answer is simple. If they had a solution to it, we would not have been where we are now.

1. In absence of a ready solution, allow me please to revisit the High Executive Council (HEC) era from 1972 to 1983.

During that time, each Government Department had a Chief Technical Advisor (they were recruited through the United Nations Development Programme). Each Chief Technical Advisor in that Department then made notes from the conversation and then left that office.

After a day or two, the Chief Technical Advisor returned to that Office and say – ‘if you do your job this new way, it might bring better results. It did bring better results, despite continuous hurdles made by the Central Government in Khartoum to derail development in the Southern Region – Juba.

2. At that time South Sudan was prospering in spite of the fact that it: didn’t have Crude Oil; was not an independent Country so as to approach the International Community for help in developmental issues; it didn’t have the prerogative of collecting all the taxes, since the majority of the taxes were belonging to the Central Government in Khartoum; did only receive Grand in Aid from Khartoum for salaries only; yet there was visible prosperity that was initiated by the High Executive Council (HEC) despite of all those difficulties mentioned.
3. Are we not able to create a system like that of the High Executive Council of Southern Region – Juba of 1972 to 1983? – or even better? I am eager to know.
4. Most of the current leaders have been fighters during the Liberation Struggles. There was no time, during the Liberation Struggles when the enemy was approaching their positions and believed that the enemy would go back alone without a fight. They did confront the enemy during those instances.

As such, our current new enemy is real and will not go away without a fight. If it is not fought fiercely using administrative and economic tools because it will not go away by itself, without a fight. Our Government Cabinet must take the leading role like what the High Executive Council (HEC) did in 1972 to 1983. End