Welcome to South Sudan Safari. I am Christine Dario and I am Chris Olet. In our 15th edition of South Sudan Safari series, we will take you through an interview on public services reforms programme launched by the President of the Government Southern Sudan, His Excellency Lieutenant General Salva Kiir Mayardit during the 6th Governor’s Forum in September 2008.

South Sudan is in the process of reforming itself from the destruction of the long liberation struggle. As a result of the destruction, the Government of Southern Sudan lost among other things systems, values and practices of its public service which was one of the best in the British Empire. The restructuring of the public services is aimed at developing a high quality human resource capital, establishing a nation with a vibrant economy as well as promoting an economic and united society.

South Sudan Safari’s Silvanos Batali met with the programme coordinator for the Government of Kenya who is charged with the responsibility of providing technical assistance on the public service reforms, Mr Maurice Nyamuga and begun by asking him to introduce himself to Gurtong listeners.

Nyamuga: My name is Maurice Nyamuga as indicated and I come from Kenya. I am here representing the Kenyan Government on a support programme for the South Sudan capacity building programme. This is a programme that was initiated by the Kenyan Government as a follow up to the assistance that Kenya gave South Sudan during the liberation struggle. It therefore became necessary that South Sudan be supported to build its capacity in terms of human resource. The Government of Kenya pledged 3.5 million US Dollars towards that effect. So I am here as a programme coordinator for this technical assistance programme between Kenya and South Sudan.

Batali: Can you enlighten us on what all these public service reforms are all about?

Nyamuga: The public service reforms is a strategy that has been used by all governments around the world and it’s an effort to ensure that government systems are streamlined to become efficient in providing its services to the people. More and more people are becoming the focus in every government and the issue of delivering to the people has become central. Besides, governments are living in the global economy and have to compete in the global economy as well and in that respect for one to compete effectively, one has to be very efficient and capable of attracting investments, sell and facilitate an efficient economy that can compete effectively in the global market.
So the reform strategy here is that it is essential for the government to ensure that it reorganizes itself effectively and thereby providing a conducive environment that enables the private sector to operate and easily compete internationally or globally.

Batali: Reforms are like change. If that is the case what is to be changed here in South Sudan’s public service?

Nyamuga: Public service in South Sudan has two aspects. There is the reconstruction, meaning; we are building new systems that were destroyed during the long period of struggle but at the same time we are also reviving and restructuring some of the systems that are already there. So what we are looking at when we talk of public service in the Government of Southern Sudan is that we are looking at governance structure. The governance structure in terms of ministries; the government has got ministries so we are looking at the structures of the ministries to ensure that the functions of the ministries are not duplicated from one ministry to the other.

Secondly, we are ensuring that we do not have too many ministries that are not necessary. We must have the number that is required to deliver the mandate of the government at this time and once we have done that, the overall organisation of government is left to the president under whose mandate that falls. We then come down to restructuring ministries, individually trying to define their functions and structures, trying to make sure that the processes are right and whether they are efficient in terms of delivering their mandate.

We are also trying to ensure that we come up with proper job descriptions in ministries and come up with structuring of the right number of establishments, which is the number of staff establishments of ministries in number and quality. Therefore, there are a number of aspects that have to be looked into to ensure that each ministry is efficient and effective in delivering its mandate and if all ministries are run effectively then the whole governance becomes effective in delivering the mandate of the government. The other thing that has to be looked into is trying to refine the national vision which should be the guiding principle for all the planning efforts. All reform efforts and everything we do in the country should be aligned to what the nation sees as the future vision and that is another aspect the reform process is going through.

Batali: How are these reforms going to be implemented in the ten South Sudan states?

Nyamuga: Every state is going to be responsible to its reform programmes within the context of a bigger framework developed by the government. So what we are trying to do here is to launch reforms in every state where the governors of the states will be responsible for undertaking the reform programmes of their respective states. However, that will be done under the guidance of the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Human Resource Development because it’s the body and ministry charged with the mandate to deal with the reforms and best practices in the Government of Southern Sudan. So there will be a linkage between the operations at the state level with the ministry in terms of advice and other things, but essentially the states are responsible to take their own reform and manage it with a bigger framework that has been established by the government.

Batali: As a consulate is there any strategy that has been put forward prior to reforms that are to be implemented in South Sudan?

Nyamuga: Reform does not bring any suffering to anybody, it is to the contrary that reform programmes are supposed to re-energise government systems and make things work out much better. Actually it enables the government to be noble and effective in the sense that it helps the government to achieve economic development in the country and therefore helps to provide more job opportunities. Hence an efficient and effective government system is actually the driver of the economy which means it can help to facilitate the private sector development which ends up providing jobs. There is no suffering when the reforms are introduced. I know that reforms are very expensive to undertake because it requires a lot of money but this is where now you depend on the goodwill of the international community like South Sudan now has the will of so many development partners who are willing to come on board and support the reforms programmes that have been suggested by the government.

So in terms of funding for the reforms there is no problem. The other important thing for reforms to succeed is the leadership contribution. The leadership must resonate with the vision of the nation in order to help the country turn around. This strategy is very critical for South Sudan because it will enable the government to drive change very fast and to be able to provide an environment which can attract investors from outside and you see, you cannot develop a country on your own, you will need investors and for investors to be attracted in any country, the government system must be attractive and effective in such a way that when the investors come they don’t take time to start making money. But where the government is not efficient and effective, things will not work smoothly as per the investor’s expectations and hence discouraging them from promoting development.
So reforms in South Sudan are very critical because it’s being taken at a stage of the government where we are setting things right and establishing an efficient government system which will enable the country move at a faster pace than it would have been without these reforms taking place.

Batali: You mentioned that this reform is going to be a leadership driven reform process, who in particular do we mean when we talk of a leadership driven process?

Nyamuga: leadership here is leadership at all levels of the government system and levels of the community and leadership in terms of the president himself who is the chief champion of reforms. We also expect ministers to be responsible and undersecretaries and director generals to take charge. So we expect all levels of the government to take charge and play their roles in the reforms so that the desired results are attained. When it comes to the community level, we also expect a linkage between the government and the community leadership; showing that we are here to establish a government and to make the government answerable to the needs of the community. There must also be a linkage between the government and the people when it comes to transforming the government systems for the benefit of the people and the nation and they must be conscious of the vision that we are pursuing as a government and as a people.

This collaboration has to be there because the leadership role is very important because it provides the vision of where we are going as a nation and inspires people to form a vision and provide the necessary environment for the delivery of this vision. You cannot achieve the target of reforms without the leadership vision. Nothing much can be achieved in cases where leadership is not involved.

Batali: Do you have any experience to share with South Sudanese on where reforms have worked in any of the countries in the Eastern, Southern countries?

Nyamuga: Reforms have given dividends to a number of countries within the region, for instance my country Kenya is now moving on the basis of reforms that have been on for quite a period of time. Rwanda just recently came out of conflict and because they have embarked on public service reforms they are moving so fast. A country like Botswana is the best country in Africa right now and this is because they embarked on reforms as a strategy for turning around and managing government so reforms, if used and managed properly it gives great dividends and South Sudan is lucky in the sense that there are so many reforms around the world which it can borrow from and use. Hence using reform as a strategy and imparting best practices into the system can enable this country turn around its economy and improve the performance of the government just like other countries have done. The best practices are already there and bad examples are also around which the Southern Sudan Government can avoid in order to move faster.

Batali: The common person on the streets may not understand some of the dividends, what are some of the dividends that are likely to benefit the common person when reforms are implemented in totality?

Nyamuga: There are a number of benefits that emerge when the government implements reforms effectively as I indicated earlier on. When the government implements reforms effectively, it means the government system becomes efficient and effective which to an extent leads to the attraction of more international investors. This in turn boosts the economy of the country as more job opportunities are created and the government can raise revenue and be able to build roads, hospitals and so many things and all this is what every person wants as services from the government. Therefore the creation of jobs enables the ordinary person get a job and a population where everyone has got money boots the country’s economy. Even a farmer can market his or her produce and contribute to the country’s economy.

Batali: So does this answer the fears that in the processes of reforms there would be job losses?

Nyamuga: It is actually the opposite. Well, downsizing may occur, but it is not a target and the objective of the reforms. However, downsizing comes when it is necessary. When you are looking at the structures of ministries and there is over employment, definitely the need for downsizing is recommended. Moreover, the government will need to have a programme on how to go about the exercise so that those offloaded do not feel victimized and are able to contribute to the economy on other ways.

Right now what we have seen in South Sudan is that people come to the office in the morning, go back in the afternoon and they do nothing in the offices; they just idle, do nothing and just talk around. This is not productive to the country that is reconstructing itself. You have to put people in a programme where they work and produce something as a result the resort to create a world and the nation. So downsizing here doesn’t mean that people are going to be jobless, it helps us to get some programmes for people to engage in some gainful employment; employment that contributes to the reconstruction of the country. Hence I don’t think there should be a fear in this respect and this process of engaging people in other projects is something admired by donors and the development partners as they can facilitate it through giving people and the government some funds which they can use to start some activities like large - scale farms and other initiatives where people can be employed. In states like Jonglei, the greater Bahr el Ghazal and others multinationals have already acquired acres of land where they are going to start farming and this is an opportunity for those laid off from the government to contribute to the reconstruction of South Sudan. Working in the farms enables them to have some money in their pockets and hence be capable of leading decent lives.
Therefore I don’t see the reforms as being a process of creating problems but it creates more opportunities.

Batali: You are the technical advisor to the Government of Southern Sudan in this reform process. What would like to say to Southern Sudanese about the process of reforms?

Nyamuga: Well, I would like to advice South Sudanese citizens to take reforms positively because it a process of trying to make the government system more effective so that it becomes a machine that turns around the economy; a machine that furthers development and economic growth for this country. It is very important that the reforms are supported because every citizen must know their right and what they need from the government and we should help the government by pointing out the priority areas and these are the priorities that are going to be captured in the reform programmes.
The people must be aware that there are reforms here that are meant to restructure the government, make it perform efficiently, jus like the president said so that we deliver the vision of the nation and it is them to promote the government by demanding quality services and accountability from it.

Batali: Thank you very much for your time.
 

Posted: 23/06/2009