Who is the desperado ; in the census crisis in souther Sudan?
- Details
- Created on Friday, 18 April 2008 01:16
- Written by peter adwok otto
By.Dr. Peter Adwok Otto,
Associate professor Upper Nile University.
When there is a point of contention between two sides, one is likely to be nearer to reality than the other. When the contentious issue is a cause of tug of war between more than two parties, it becomes difficult to pass a clean verdict on who s the desperado with certainty.
In this issue of contention,
H.E. Salva Kiir GOSS president, The Presidency, the government of south
Sudan(GOSS) or the census commission. Why was there not enough
coordination?
I tend to support the decision of GOSS for postponment of the cencus in the south for the following reasons:
Some of the CPA items are hinged on the timetable of agreement and
that’s why the presidency is very stern and inflexible.Because much
money had been loss as much as 27 million dollars, for one week
postpondment of the census and of-course the great sense of credibility
of the palace. To whether the conditions stated by the minister of
information Mr. Changson for not effecting the census in the south on
the schedualed date of 15/4/2008 were exhustively discussed in the
presidency and agreed upon remains to be known. But even if these
points were agreed upon by the presidency, there are still inadiquacies
which have been presented in GOSS cabinet and if need be they should go
to interim SSLA for more study and legalization.
The idea that this is within the jurcidiction of the palace can not be disputed.
But the presidency can not act on decisions that should turn unpopular.
If census is to be used later for wealth and power sharing, then unless there is
some group that is interested in the reduction of the portion of the south,
presidency can never be unaware that many people in the south have not
gone back to their homes either from the IDPs camps or refuge. No
matter if the funds were provided and misused or never given at all.
Non- inclussion of tribe and religion in the form of registration carries bad
intension from the national census commission. All the documents of personal
identification in Sudan carries religion and tribe, the nationality certificate
should contain tribe otherwise it becomes as subject at whims of those
responsible for issuance and becoming a Sudanese becomes easy as many
people are atracted by our resources.So if the nationality certificate
bears the item called the tribe,while
the census intends to count the Sudanese people only,then many
nationalities are bound to be counted with ease. This story, is about a
young man who was to be some where on behalf of the Collo(Shilluk)
people,some of his interviewers though suspecious could not desuade him
as he stuck to the new found identity. A means had to be deviced to
disqualify our friend. He was asked if he could become a Collo(Shilluk)
king. “Yes if I were given a chance” he answered with confidence.
This what failed him because not any shilluk man can be a king by
chance. Leaving out tribe in the form of the census is leting any one
be a Sudanese.
I participated in enumeration in 1983 census all these were included why not now?
Tribe is important especially for the south because the definition of a southerner
might be based on this in 2011’s refrendum for self-determination. Thus no one
should accept this census without tribe in the form.
Inclusion of religion might be important for those interested in NEW Sudan and
would like to know how many are Muslims or non-Muslims.Because in the
south it is no matter if you are a Muslim or not, since in one family
there are muslims, christians or those who believe in African religions.
With respect to the IDPs and those in Diaspora, it is not the first time for people
to be enumirated in different places around the globe against their original
homelands(Dejure method). It would be less expensive if the IDPs were
enumirated where they are in the north. The condition of boarder
demarkation is not seriously needed to postpond census as it is in the
pipeline.
Derangment in the time table of CPA had started delaying since the
first preparatory six month after the agreement in 2005. There fore
should the delay of census lead to extending the elections or even the
refrendum for six months, is no big issue instead of passing a bad bill
of the census in which the southerners will be severely under estimated.
Where is the real problem?
If the mistake is with the presidency, the conditions put up by the
GOSS, some are genuin and need to be addressed. It is not the only
crisis that the presidency had managed till now. The pull out of the
SPLM ministers though was wrong, got resolved.
Now it is the whole of southern people and not the SPLM alone. If the
president of GOSS is the source of the mistake, by accepting the
decesion of the presidency,he will not be able to convince the GOSS,
because they are not all SPLM. However, there is a mistake from the
advisors who should have cautioned the president of the south and
chairman of SPLM to have evaded such a fix. If it is the GOSS that is
responsible for the crisis, the mistake lies in why they had come this
far withou sorting the problem initially. The SG of SPLM and his deputy
for northen sector had detached themselves from the crisis by
disclaiming responsibility and hanging the rope on the neck of GOSS.But
it is known that SPLM forms the majority in the southe rn government,
and its time they stand by their chairman and president of GOSS.
Way out.
The president of GOSS is left only with two options either to yield in
to the GOSS, and have the census defered further into future after
meeting some conditions, or he should dismiss the GOSS to satisfy the
presidency and save his credibility now, but shoulders the
resposibility of underestimation of the southern people and all that
attached to unpopular census.
For the presidency, the census can still go on in the north and the south can be
postpond to November 2008, not to waste the resources.No good need to persist on what might not be disrespected in future.
Newer news items:
- KHARTOUM MONITOR EXELLS IN DISINFORMATION - 22/04/2008
- Khartoum Monitor Got It Wrong - 22/04/2008
- Upper Nile denies demanding former Sudan's FM to leave - 22/04/2008
- DO YOU THINK DR.LAM, MR.PAGAN and DR.ADWOK CAN MOVE BEYOND THEIR POLITICAL IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENTS - 21/04/2008
- South Sudan to demobilize army but fears violence - 21/04/2008
Older news items:
- Postponing the Census: Unjustified GoSS’s Rush Hour - 15/04/2008
- SPLM Renaissance Conceptualism; should not be an Impending Party Fiasco. - 14/04/2008
- Senslessness, Sensitivity and Specificity - 14/04/2008
- Sudan's southern government pulls out of census - 13/04/2008
- A Call for a New Collo Mindset - 12/04/2008
Latest News/Articles
Dear Prof. Adwok,
His Excellency Salva Kiir Mayardit is right in his decision to allow the Fifth Census to take place in Southern Sudan. His decision is based on the spirit of the CPA and safeguarding its implementation. The GoSS President has the right to reject whatever decision comes from GoSS Cabinet that is against the spirit of the CPA and its implementation process.The issues of un-demarcated South-North Borders, un-repatriated IDPs, Ethnicity (Tribe), Religion, Rainy Season, and referendum are not directly related to the census and should not be used as justification to postpone it. Also it is included in the census questionnaire form whether the counted person is from the South, North, East, West or Center of the Sudan. Therefore, there is no fear in knowing later how many people belongs originally to Southern Sudan but were counted elsewhere (here you will only know but not claim the benefits that are attached if it is the de facto method that is used). There are also observers to supervise the census process. So let us not panic.
Your story of the strange young man in the Collo Kingdom cannot support your argument in opposition to the Fifth Census. Remember that this census is different from the previous ones because it is in a unique political context; the CPA spirit where tribe, race and religion are separated from the state affairs. Instead, you should be happy to count that young man as part of that county within the Collo kingdom (not Collo County) because that will be a credit to the claim of wealth and power sharing for that area. What difference will it make to power and wealth sharing if it is known that such and such are the number of Christians/Muslims/Animists and such and such are the number of Dinka/Jaliheen/etc which is contrary to the spirit of the CPA. Diversities which are mentioned in the CPA do not necessarily refer to those attributes.
The de Jure method in census is not a sincere method because it carries practical complications. It can mislead a government to built a big school or hospital where there are no many actual people to enjoy these service. It can also mislead a government not to provide the the needed services and facilities where a actual big number is located but happened not to be counted as part of that actual daily living place. For these reasons and others, the de facto method has been preferred in many countries over the world.
In my opinion, GoSS got it wrong to say that Sudan Census exercise can go ahead in the North and be postponed in the South till the end of this year (2008) because of the the case of the un-repatriated IDPs and etc. Logically this implies that those IDPs should be counted in the North because they will be found there during the days of counting in the North, which GoSS seem not to be opposed to. Will the IDPs be counted again in the South if GoSS manage to repatriate them there before December? That is, are they going to be counted twice by de facto (i.e, first in the North and then next in the South)? I think some sense is missing here and GoSS should wake up from such kinds of slumbers for blunders! H.E. Salva has saved GoSS by allowing the Census.