Advocating for President Kiir to ease recurrent Decrees that negatively impact development and service delivery, the demand for greater accountability makes perfect sense. Leaders given the time and authority must be required to present regular accountability reports to their respective state and National Parliaments. This is a critical step towards curbing the country’s entrenched corruption, especially within the oil and non-oil sectors.
There has been a persistent lack of transparency regarding how oil is sold and how much revenue is collected, fuelling corruption year after year. This allows short-term leaders to seemingly work only for personal gain, exemplified by communities around the oil sector being denied their promised 3% share of the revenue.
The Government must implement new regulations to forcefully address corruption. This includes ensuring the proper use of oil revenue, promoting complete transparency and accountability in sales, and managing critical issues like environmental degradation. The communities most impacted by resource extraction should directly benefit from the oil and other sectors.
The way decrees are currently utilized read on state television (South Sudan Broadcasting Cooperation) to sack top officials often falls short of genuine accountability. These decrees rarely state the reasons behind the removal, and sometimes the very same decree immediately appoints a successor or recycles the same individuals back into office later.
This revolving door suggests the undue influence of lobbyists working hard to secure favourable decisions and enrich specific individuals. When leaders are sacked, the public often sees no change; underperformance continues, and if the removal is due to scandal, there is no subsequent prosecution. Without legal action, these decrees serve as little more than a temporary inconvenience, failing to deter future misconduct.
If the problem is underperformance, the government must implement follow-up mechanisms to assess the institution’s progress. If the issue is scandal and corruption, we need serious legal battles and court prosecutions in the name of true accountability.
The country is facing pressing issues, particularly the dire humanitarian situations that demand the urgent mobilization of funds to save lives and restore the dignity of vulnerable groups. Addressing these crises requires high-end, effective leadership with measurable performance indicators.
Therefore, the decree process must factor in performance as the primary criterion for appointment. Any scandalous act or misappropriation of public funds should trigger a decree and be immediately followed by prosecution and legal charges.
The government must also not forget the civil servants who are struggling with their families in the current economic situation. Their plight needs serious attention in all decision-making processes.
The appointing authority must prioritize performance, accountability, and transparency when issuing decrees for both appointment and removal. While the President seeks solutions, he should continue to decree out corrupt officials, but the process must be deepened with follow-through.
God Protect South Sudan.
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