Opinion: Letter of Appreciation to Hon. Nhial Deng Nhial, the minister for Presidential affairs

By Zechariah Makuach Maror

Dear Honourable,

July 10, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — I would like to submit in my unconditional thanks and appreciations to you for restoring order in then disordered J1, your leadership skills and personal stamina had already over-reign my heart not because I have affection or prejudice towards the government but the sensitive stalwart you had wielded to break the line of scrimmage over the allocation of State to the parties won you an infatuation in me. You are an exceptional leader who always has the best solution to any problems in your mind’s suitcase; your leadership quality and prop up have earned you much deserved respect in the bottom of one’s humanity. I’m one of the people who vowed not to support the chicken’s heart Cabinet of Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity during the time of its formation because I was a fanatic of quality appointment but all parties to the agreement had disappointed my odds.

Your going back to the government who had humiliated you several times particularly getting back to J1 gives birth to illuminating jubilation for our cheated and neglected rural majority in the States whom I should thank COVID-19 for having mercy on them. It would have been catastrophic if novel coronavirus would have grasped that advantage of States’ leadership vacuum to steps its miserable feet on our stateless states created by previous lack of leadership stamina in J1 or forenamed administration ineptitude in the office of President. Your benevolence in securing favourable decision-making will remain in liken of my heart forever.

You prove to me and others who believed that you’re an engineer of the Agreement on the Resolution of the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan and its revitalization before your uncalculated removal as government chief negotiator and Minister of Foreign Affairs then. Your dismissal from the post had resulted to the big blow to the government and peace yearning communities paving the way for the beneficiaries of chaos and conflicts to Reign, it would be a learning factor to a man who dismissed you if he’s one of the inhabitants who is susceptible to learning through experience. Now you prove to President Kiir and Sudanese that you are a jocker solution to any shambolic blockades of South Sudan’s progress. For me, I guess you are not the man of our planet but you seems like sky man sent from heaven to redeem the people of South Sudan and your name met the character.

Dear Honorable

The effective government needs effective political leadership: ministers who understand their roles; set clear priorities; work well with their relevant departments, and cope with the demands of the job. The job of the South Sudan government’s ministers specifically minister for Presidential affairs is a strange one. There is no good job description, no application, no interview and no tuition and no undersecretary to formulate the plans. But you are picked among your peers by the President, to be a chief decision-maker in his office and joint leaders of a large and complex organization that you may know absolutely nothing about their work plan, sometimes some don’t have. 

Your new role started the moment you got sworn-in in J1, perhaps with some instruction from the President about what he would like you to do, perhaps not, for others it is a great privilege and most likely the highlight of your political career. In your new office, the departmental staff you don’t know, none of whom you can – formally – hire or fire, will greet you in welcoming ceremony and instead wait to hear your plan can start to spoon-feed you with their great admirable experiences that are lacking aptitudes and further lecture you on how things are carried out in that particular environment.

Dear Honorable,

 You are part of the office that hasn’t been able to solely choose, and that you may sometimes encounter political rivals with shadow legacy of your predecessor and that is one challenge among the challenges of your new job. Your new chore is 24/7 as you conjure a constant stream of J1 business along with your role as a member of the community you belong may conflict one another, giving the fact that your community members may criticize you for having not secured their dividends in any distribution of the national or regional cake which is the reality of our socio-political belief in South Sudan. Should you attempt any single direction in favour of your community, it would be the same members whom you assume to be favouring that will write the lengthy report of your leadership style of tribalism and nepotism in the office of President. I believe it would be better for them to jot down that you are useless to the community and useful to the country as already they did ail intendedly a few days ago. The good challenge to them is that all are under the gaze of the media and the public. You know that your job here is an incredible opportunity but it’s also temporary, however, well you perform, otherwise, baseless guilt will get back to your table ones more, excuse me! I’m not worth enough to advise you.

The above-festooned paragraph is in response to some Hon. Nhial’s community mates who claim that Nhial was a barricade of Tonj aspirations for the governorship of Warrap State. In my opinion, the appointment of the current governor of Warrap State seems like the continuation of the previous autarchy of “Kiir gives and Kiir takes, congratulations to Mr. X for winning the trust of the President”. On the other hand, the luck of the current governor of Warrap state was advantaged by too many contestants that were driven by emotion and moral guidance towards the leadership to run the state, but many of them didn’t present clear agenda of why one is looking for the governorship, Instead many of whom have just boosted publicity on media flora especially on social media. As such, putting the burden of Tonj aspirations’ forfeiting the seat on Hon. Nhial is quite misplaced which its architects need to revisit and replaced it ones more otherwise that is the mischief of South Sudan political philosophy which is always based on assumptions and speculations.

Viewing Hon Nhial in community telescope is unacceptable vigor that should not be exonerated to such telescope’s practitioners; I guess he was neither appointed as a representative of his community nor State he refers. Nhial was appointed by the President as a request of desperate members of SPLM who felt that their own government is hijacked by intruders and to prune them out, they should have to install SPLM nurtured cadre like Nhial who specialized in getting a solution to complex issues thus passed their agenda of regret in form of reform as the claim during the swearing-in ceremony of Hon. While in the state house, J1.

Dear Honorable 

 Giving the circumstances of J1 political tournament, the problem of South Sudan government’s job started in such a way, don’t be surprised. The architect of such ploy will one day permeate to J1 and the President with or without reasons may decide that it is time for a reshuffle and you evacuate J1 just as suddenly as you entered it – hopefully having averted disasters and achieved the policy goals you have brought for would be so thankful on other hand. 

Ministers’ capabilities are hugely important to all government in the whole world, yet it is surprising how little is understood about what they actually do especially in South Sudan. I suggest you should speed up your hand to leave behind tangible achievement in J1, even within the civil service the majority of officials have little contact with ministers, this existing scenario and others need to be lectured to the President in order to solve the arising problem of a self-drawn classic society that would likely cause anxiety in nearest future. 

Meanwhile, the public feels isolated from a political class that is seen as out of touch and elite characterized; government ministers are trusted less and people believe that ministers spend more time scoring political points and seeking political dividends than they do deliver their policy pledges especially in well-articulated SPLM manifesto that was thrown to the dustbin making it way to decaying garbage. As ministers grapple with the huge challenges of how they would accumulate wealth or smuggling domestic wealth abroad as their foreign policy agenda in which every minister has got his own foreign policy of fraud, you need to think more about how you will affect the President to regulate his ministers to be as effective as possible in their jobs without dishonesty, otherwise, another disaster is waiting ahead of us.

The writer is an Activist and he could be reached via zeemakuach@hotmail.com