Opinion: [Let us not kid ourselves] Elections under Museveni will never be free nor fair…

Let us not kid ourselves. Let’s get real for minute. Breathe out. Take a deep breathe, before reading some utter nonsense. Than, after that. Digest some facts and call it a Thursday. Does that sound about right? I hope so, because first a snippet, than my 2 cents. Before I call “Peace”. Feel me?

Outgoing Deputy Attorney General, Mwesigwa Rukutana explained that it’s not only the forthcoming general elections that government will ensure free and fair elections but this has been upholding them even in the previous elections. “It’s not only this coming general elections of 2021 but Uganda held free and regular elections and also observed human rights. You can’t compare this regime to the past regimes. We have always observed those principles,” Mr Rukutana said by telephone at the weekend” (Anthony Wesaka – ‘Uganda will comply with African charter rules in holding free, fair elections, says govt’ 23.01.2020, Daily Monitor).

Well, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and their men got some nerve. To call the rigged elections, their hands of puppets in the Electoral Commission, in the Judiciary and the Police Force. To call it free and fair. When the state are using their funds for their campaigns, when the State House is misusing funds to the outrageous during campaigns and elections. As well as the misuse of the army and police for their benefit.

The knowledge of voter tourism, ghost voters, pre-ticked ballots, fake voter registers, frauds on tally sheets and declaration forms combined with another level of Math from the Electoral Commission. You know where this is headed. Not to a place of free and fair elections, but pre-determined results in favour of one man and his brigade.

The 2021 will be no difference. There will be ghosts, there will be soldiers and there will be ballots counted twice, make believe numbers and shattered tears over another fake election. All done in the service of man and his people.

We could joke about it. But the reality is that the same man complaining about the 1980 election. Is doing the same himself and more vigorously too. There is no bound or stoppage of this man. He continues to do this. Apparently until his last breath. That is the sort of man he his.

2021 elections are already in the cards and the one who get to be crowned king. Is already known, the ballad of the election results are already written and Kololo is ready to be painted yellow. Nothing else will happen. That is just the way it is. Peace.

South Sudan: Pursuing artificial deadlines will not create peace

The Revitalized – Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) was supposed to be formed by 22nd February 2020. This after a 100 day extension of the last deadline. Both major parties like Dr. Riek Machar of Sudan People Liberation Movement/Army – (In-Opposition) (SPLM/A-(IO) and President Salva Kiir Mayardit of Sudan People Liberation Movement/Army – In Goverment (SPLM/A-IG). There is now talks of another 90 days extension.

The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) had an original deadline that was on the 12th November 2019. That is why R-ARCSS needs time to be fixed and worked with. The Khartoum Declaration of 27th June 2018 was the start of this process, but clearly, the South Sudanese stakeholders needs time. They need more than small visits of SPLM/A-(IO) delegations. It needs more than tokens of hope from the Rome Declaration of 12th January 2020. It gives hope from the South Sudan Opposition, but it doesn’t stop the needed dialogue.

Kiir and Machar needs more time together. They need to sit with the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and others. So, that their grievances get met. That people are not using the uncertainty to fuel internal conflicts in various of states. This is what is happening. While the last train is going away.

What is bugging me, while following it. Is to see how the European Union, the Troika and United States are pushing hard for finishing it by the artificial deadline. The date of 22nd February 2020 shouldn’t be the final nail in the coffin. Especially, if they prolong the cease-fire, push for more negotiations and actually leads to something positive on the ground. That should matter than a put up date. Especially, after such a long and bloody conflict the South Sudanese has been through. Its like that is water under the bridge after the Independence from Khartoum.

Let’s be serious for minute. If it was fine with a 100 days in November 2019. What’s the big difference now in January 2020? Not so much right? 90 more days will not solve it, just like the 100 days before. However, it gives the party more time and actually do things that matters. Hopefully not just buy time for recruitments, but sit together with IGAD and Special Envoys to iron things out.

The R-ARCSS follows the previous deal, the ARCSS. It is many of the same players and stakeholders. They are all playing this as a way of gaining power. But if they get this done with whatever time it takes. It is better, that the parties are formal and conducting manners like this. Instead of going back to the battlefield and hunting each other. Another civil war will not be in anyone’s interest, unless they are merchants of death.

The international community are focusing on a date, instead of the results. The ones whose supporting this must see this flaw. They should instead facilitate and ensure the parties get to talk, get to walk through the steps of the R-ARCSS and get the TGoNU in order. Instead of forcing a marriage without the preen-up in order. The bride and the groom will get into a brutal divorce if so. That is at least what I see coming.

Last time it went bad. It was tanks in the streets of Juba. Machar fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the rest is history. However, with the knowledge of that. The dates where the negotiations ends shouldn’t be the focus, be the aim, but the progress and opening up more avenues for the stakeholders to actually succeed. That is if they care about the fate of the Republic.

No process is perfect, because we as people are not perfect, but humans with defects. That is why we need measures and mechanisms to secure our flaws for a better outcome. The International Community and the ones supposed to cheer on the stakeholders are not seeing this. They want the grand results without the needed work behind it. That’s not how they do it themselves, neither how any of them would allow being pushed to finish reforms at home. Therefore, they should give them more time. Not being locked to artificial dates, but instead salute progress and hope that each step is getting closer to the outcome everyone wants. Sustainable Peace, not a “fake peace”. Peace.

South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA): Press Statement (19.01.2020)

South Sudan: SPLM/A-(IO) – Press Release (20.01.2020)

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) calls South Sudan to increase its public spending in education (20.01.2020)

2.2 million children do not have access to quality education in South Sudan, jeopardizing the future of the entire country.

JUBA, South Sudan, January 20, 2020 – South Sudan is not sufficiently prioritizing children’s education, UNICEF said today. While the internationally agreed international standard for education allocations is 20 per cent of the national budget, South Sudan only spends 5.6 per cent for 2019-2020, according the national budget. This is the lowest public education spending in East Africa, recent studies say.2.2 million children do not have access to quality education in South Sudan, jeopardizing the future of the entire country. As the country prepares for a new academic year, UNICEF is calling on the Government of South Sudan to prioritize education in its government spending.

“Education must be a top priority for the Government in South Sudan and sufficient allocations must be made to ensure every child in the country can go to school and learn,” said UNICEF Representative in South Sudan Dr Mohamed Ag Ayoya. “By investing in the education of its children, South Sudan is investing in the future and development of the whole country.”

The call for more public spending on education in South Sudan, comes as UNICEF is launching the global report ‘Addressing the learning crisis: an urgent need to better finance education for the poorest children’. Nearly 1 in 3 adolescent girls from the poorest households around the world has never been to school, the report says – launched as education ministers from all over the world are gathered at the Education World Forum, ahead of the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

Poverty, discrimination due to gender, disability, ethnic origin or language of instruction, physical distance from schools and poor infrastructure are among the obstacles that continue to prevent the poorest children from accessing quality education. Exclusion at every step of education perpetuates poverty and is a key driver of a global learning crisis.

The paper notes that the lack of resources available for the poorest children is exacerbating a crippling learning crisis, as schools fail to provide quality education for their students.

In South Sudan, lack of public investment in education is contributing to the critical shortage of qualified teachers. An estimated 62 per cent of primary teachers and 44 per cent of secondary teachers are not qualified. Also, many teachers leave the profession due to salaries not being paid on a regular basis.

UNICEF calls the Government of South Sudan:

  • to progressively increase the education share of the national budget to the international agreed standard of 20 per cent.
  • to ensure salaries of qualified teachers are paid and paid on time to increase teacher retention.
  • to allocate adequate resources to pre-primary education to ensure children are starting primary school well prepared.

“With South Sudan’s academic year commencing in a few weeks, it is prudent to commit to realizing every child’s right to an education, by ensuring the education sector has the necessary resources,” said Ayoya.

South Sudan: SPLM/SPLA(IO) Position to Enable the Formation of the Revitalized Government of National Unity (R-TGONU) at the End of the Extension of the Hundred Days (14.01.2020)

South Sudan Human Rights Commission (SSHRC): Press Statement (14.01.2020)

South Sudan: Rome Declaration on the Peace Process in the South Sudan (12.01.2020)

South Sudan: IGAD – Subject: Submission of Position Paper for the Upcoming Consultation Meeting of the Parties to the R-ARCSS (09.01.2020)

South Sudan: First Vice President Taban Deng Gai regrets U.S. Treasury Allegations of Human Rights Violation and Reiterates Determination of Peace (09.01.2020)