Part II
By Abu Deng,
Opinion.
Nov 29, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — Some of the complaints one hears against this current government is that its advisors are ineffective or incompetent – and I am guilty as charged for stating this assertion, based on several actions taken by RSS officials over the past 9 years (the ban foreigner directive is classic). This continuing war is one more example.
However, one of the recents acts of this government that makes its crystal clear this is an ill-trained or ill-intentioned?? bunch of Advisor-people is the National Security bill, which was long ago exposed by myself, many MPs, opposition parties and international think tanks and interest groups as a “bad” draconian security bill.
Of late, dozens of MPs wrote to the President saying please do not sign….But more notably and powerfully it is revealed by these brave lawmakers that insufficient parliamentarians were present after they walked out, which meant there could be no “Constitutional” quorum as required. See the MPs letter here, 9
Earlier fourteen Opposition political parties agreed the bill had no quorum and should not be signed by the President, see 10.
As well, South Sudanese civil society organisations asked for the president not to sign the security bill. See, 11.
The Enough Project and other international groups recommended for the bill to be returned to Parliament for reconsideration, see 12.
So here we are again, Mr. President as I said in an October blog, do not sign this bill if you want to have some legacy left for your grandchildren or piece of mind. Your advisors are letting you down, and have again put you in a globally embarrassing situation. Why?
Well, their argument for passing this bill, it has been long overdue, and the nation need without a foundational security service legal framework, says the Parliament Speaker Mr. Rundial – is a false one.
Meanwhile, speaker Magok Rundial has categorically denied on that the House in its “passage” had contravened any of its guiding rules and regulations.
“The first stage is when the bill is introduced to the House. The second part is meant for the studying the bill. The third part is the final stage. The bill had gone through all these stages and they have been covered. So what happened yesterday is that members debated and agreed finally to pass it with some amendments,” Rundial told reporters on Thursday.
“The 72 hours which some members are citing had already been given and they have had the opportunity to read it. I don’t how long they want to study the bill,” he added.
The speaker said the bill was long overdue and the House had an obligation to pass the mandate as per its responsibilities to the protect of the country and its people. See, 13.
Or this bill is fine, it met proper Parliamentary procedure according to:
Northern Bahr el Ghazal MP Agany Deng Kwac, who supported the motion on Wednesday, said that the bill was unanimously endorsed by those members who remained in the House.
“I think no-one from those who remained in the hall came out to oppose the decision-making mechanism, so it was unanimously endorsed unopposed,” said Kwac, noting that some observations had been made regarding the final contents of the bill. See, 14.
South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei, the chief spokesman for the government, said President Kiir will sign the bill and, “If there are any loopholes… you correct them later.” See, 15. (this is nonsense, no proper nation does this!)
And to Bloomberg, Mr. RSS Government Spokesman:
Rejected the criticisms and said every country has the right to decide how best to manage its affairs. “Issues of security of the nation are not matters of jokes,” he said yesterday in an interview in the capital, Juba. “It’s not the right of anybody in this world to come and tell me that your security is like this or like this.”
“There is not any controversy — it is a good law,” he said. “Let us wait for it to be operational and we will see where the loopholes are and they will be filled.”
A human rights group is “an organization comprised of individuals who write their opinions but they should not go as far as judging others’ laws,” Lueth said. “They should wait first, let the law be applied, and then they criticize on the application, not on the wording.” See, 16.
One of the security bill authors, Samuel Duwar Deng, the chairman of the parliamentary committee for defense, security and public order, had this to say about it:
“It is actually very good, it is joyful to the people of South Sudan and to the services itself because, from here, we will be assured the work of the (security) service will be running smoothly,” See, 17.
My Analysis
After all these high ranking officials, some executive, some legislative, it’s seems all skipped over the base, simple issue of constitutionality of the bill, none of them question the legality of this globally opposed security bill – not one! Because it is very clear this bill gives new powers to the security service like police (arrest, search and seizure) while the security forces’ mandate in the 2011 Constitution is only to gather information, analyse and – a big, dangerous and unqualified leap that could spell additional problems for the totalitarian-leaning government.
Hypocrisy at its Best
During the recent debate on whether the Vice President should be removed as proposed during the IGAD Peace Talks. All the current officials (that is, Pres. Kiir supporters) said this is not going to happen, even the Presidential Spokesman Mr. Ateny stated this:
The position of the vice-president is in the constitution. His duties are clearly spelled out in the constitution. He becomes the acting president when the president travels out of the country,” he said. See, 18.
So let me get this right, the constitution does matter in this issue of the Vice President, but not when it comes to the national security bill…we can ignore the security bill violates its constitutional mandate!
I see, so SPLM-Juba believes one can chose to ignore the 2011 Interim Constitution when it suits their purpose….Really?
Well Hon. Ateny Wek Ateny, Hon. Micheal Makuei, the Speaker of Parliament and company you cannot follow the constitution one day and ignore it the next day. This is not how nations with respect act or conduct their business.
Do not sign that National Security Bill President Kiir, for you will be tainted forever with the incompetence of your advisors…it is flawed, Return it to Parliament for retooling as the entire world has already suggested, plus me Abu Deng.
Such Hypocrisy by RSS Officials of late clearly speaks to the decline of incompetent government in Juba. Please let a new crop of bright minds, full of integrity and selfishness come in the transitional government Lord I pray.
I hope as well that the leaders of both sides realise people are dying, tired, hungry and want Peace, if that is not enough then both Leaders just have to read the IGAD Resolution to know, there are consequences to irresponsibility leadership.
May Peace and Security reign in South Sudan…
The author, Abu Deng, can be reached at Abu Deng, the author is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in Public Policy & International Affairs BA, MPA, MAST, Engineer (IEEE). He can be reached at dengjoseph1@yahoo.com
