By Billow Kerrow

This week, South Sudanese will sit up after the party is over and ask, what next? Celebrations of freedom and independence are the easy part.

We still commemorate that day we broke off from the British empire but for some that Uhuru is yet to come, 48 years after our independence.

South Sudan was not under foreign occupation, it chose self-determination after decades of civil war against marginalisation, as a solution to the conflict. Yet, the end is the same – a new nation entirely on its own. It faces the same challenges most African countries faced after their independence. The challenge of inclusiveness and national unity are topmost and often determines if peace will prevail. From Nigeria to Sudan itself, and Mozambique to Mauritania, nations have struggled to remain united amid perennial conflicts that undermined their growth. In Kenya, the betrayal of our freedom fighters was monumental as the elitists took charge; many died poor and dejected.

With the numerous ethnic groups in South Sudan, inclusiveness is critical. Already half a dozen disgruntled militia groups are fighting the fledging Government over concerns of ethnic domination. This past six months, almost 2,000 people have been killed in various conflicts according to the UN. The human rights groups warned of ‘autocratic rule’ recently and accused SPLA of rape, looting and extra judicial killings. Foreigners, particularly Somalis from Kenya, are routinely harassed and detained by largely undisciplined security forces.

More than four decades after gaining independence, corruption, tribalism, poverty and bad governance plagues most African countries. Today’s freedom fighters are tomorrow’s oppressors when they get into power. Behind the veil of false pretence, most leaders have little regard for democratic ideals, and much less the commitment to the rule of law. Human rights violations become institutionalised as the so-called liberators wallow in self-aggrandisement and seek to perpetuate their leadership.

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It matters little whether a country has abundant wealth. DRC and Nigeria are among the richest in Africa, yet majority live below the poverty line. South Sudan may have abundant oil, minerals, livestock and agricultural resources but the citizens of the new nation may remain in poverty and squalor for decades to come if the leaders import corruption and impotent political ideology from their big brothers in Africa as they are wont to. Western multinationals will influence the leaders with kickbacks in order to win contracts and shape Executive opinion.

Silva Kiir and his regime have to walk the talk in protecting the lives of the citizens and ensuring the rule of law. There will be no more ‘North’ to blame. There are no ‘nation’ friends either; countries will support you only if it is in their own interest to do so. Nation building is not liberation struggle. In the latter, there is no accountability. There will now be a greater demand for transparency in governance. The inept and the corrupt must not be allowed to impoverish and disenfranchise the citizens.

Immediately after taking power, African leaders display arrogance and impunity as they redefine the priorities and aspirations of their people. Soon, you hear the Government has no resources to implement development and reconstruction pledges it made. Instead, other lofty plans peddled by the influential elitist and ‘fly by night’ contractors will get precedence for higher ‘rents’.

The North predicates the South Sudanese separation on marginalisation although many theories abound. It will be important for the new regime to pursue equitable resource allocation, including power, to avoid marginalisation. Dozens of international aid groups poured billions of dollars into the region for decades but there is little to show for it.

Much of the marginalised Northern Kenya looks far worse than South Sudan. Even when donors give resources to reverse the tide, they are stolen. In South Sudan, the cast is the same; only the stage is different.

—The writer is a former MP for Mandera Central and political economist