Get Juba into the EAC!

Yesterday was a great day. At the stroke of midnight, we welcomed a new nation into the African fraternity, Southern Sudan. Last night, the dreams of the late, great Col. John Garang were brought to fruition. Like Martin Luther King Jr he didn’t get to the Promised Land, but he climbed to the mountain peak and gazed upon the green fields of freedom and self-determination. The blood, sweat and tears that the SPLM/A shed since the war of independence begun almost 30 years ago, have been rewarded with the grand prize of a new flag, anthem and government. But that is the easy part. We, Africans, know that independence is the first step. Our experience since the 1960’s has demonstrated that just because you unshackle yourself from one oppressor ,doesn’t necessarily mean that everything will go as planned. To build a properly functioning state, Salva Kiir will need to tap into all the things that made his nation’s independence possible. A resilient people who refuse to accept the cards they are dealt, a strong and educated Diaspora that has always remembered where they came from and international goodwill. He has a great trump card that can make this state possible; hundreds of millions of dollars of natural resources under his very feet. I don’t want to sound like a harbinger of doom, but the hardest part is about to begin. In Rwanda, to get where we are now demanded sacrifice. I remember talking to a relative of mine who joined the civil service right after the war was won; he had a great degree from a western university, and could have made thousands almost anywhere in the world. He instead chose to come home and make one hundred dollars a month. All while trying to cater for a family. When I asked him why he did it he said “that’s the price we had to pay to build our home. You couldn’t put yourself first”. Thousands of Rwandans did exactly that and now we are reaping what they sowed. A country that’s growing exponentially in every single way. So, I expect a huge amount of teething pains for awhile but if the people of Southern Sudan pull in the same direction refuse to let outsiders dictate to them and, let’s be honest here, have savvy relations with northern Sudan, then they will be alright. This brings me to my next point. Southern Sudan and the East African Community (EAC). I have heard that the nation might become the sixth member of the EAC very soon and I can understand the temptation to fast track the process. It’s a largely untapped market with indefinite potential. There is a lot of money to be made and its oil wealth might be the catalyst that the EAC needs to fulfil its own potential. sunny_ntayombya@hotmail.com Twitter: @sannykigali Blog: sunnyntayombya.wordpress.com