BY MOSES GARANG
The poor delivery of services in the country stems from a big mistake by the South Sudan Opposition Alliance’s (SSOA) panic appointment of Hussein Abdelbaggi Ayii as one of the Vice Presidents in South Sudan. Abdelbaggi controls the service delivery sector and how he has gone about with business is clear for all to see in the health and education sectors, and a lot wanting in all of them.
It remains baffling how Abdelbaggi got himself into one of the highest offices in South Sudan. While he might be said to have the luck of the devil incarnate himself, Abdelbaggi has however failed to live up to what SSOA billed on him. Likewise in the eyes of South Sudanese, he has been someone who failed to deliver as expected of a leader in a top decision-making position in the country.
Abdelbaggi hit the bull’s eye on luck when one of the five Vice President positions was accorded to SSOA, and in a hurry, they made a mistake, a very grave one that even they at SSOA have failed to comprehend.
While Abdelbaggi’s role was to manage the education and health sectors, and vital departments in the country over the transitional period, his work is yet to be felt, even with the transitional period ending. Those two government sectors continue limping as Abdelbaggi enjoys the benefits that come with being the “fifth” in South Sudan. Backstabbing has been a key part of his action plans and he does not hesitate to ensure President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s programs are tampered with. Abdelbaggi has a team of henchmen who have mastered efficiency in slowly but surely dismantling plans President Kiir has put together. He is quick at undermining positions of responsibility that the president accords to others, including highly professional people, but rather uses his position to block action plans, especially where it has to do with the provision of services to the people.
Abdelbaggi’s actions, or rather, lack of actions, have increasingly led to the public losing confidence and trust in him. The general feeling is that as the Vice President of the Service Cluster, he has failed to effectively deliver services as expected. The Service Cluster brings together the National Ministry of Health, other key ministries, and stakeholders.
Abdelbaggi, since his appointment by President Kiir in February 2020, has failed to transform the health sector. Health facilities are not only in their worst state but keep a downward trend, an outright progress of deterioration.
Juba Teaching Hospital, the main referral hospital in the country lacks enough medicines for treating the sick, and also medical personnel at this facility lack basic medical equipment, leaving the entire hospital to depend on donations from the Chinese medical teams. Juba Teaching Hospital is a huge white elephant project without even the cheapest anti-malarial drugs to treat those who turn up at the facility.
To make matters worse, most of the health facilities across the ten States and three Administrative Areas are surviving on the in-kind support of NGOs and humanitarian agencies such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
VP Abdelbaggi spends lavishly on his private life from the government coffers, as witnessed in a recent wedding of a new wife, one of many, in Dubai. It was an extravagant wedding ceremony attended by his relatives and close associates including insiders in key cabinet sectors.
The Service Cluster headed by VP Abdelbaggi is mandated under the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement to improve the delivery of basic social services including health, education, provision of safe drinking water, and other important amenities that are essential for the improvement of social life of South Sudanese.
Finding himself in a pot of wealth and power, Abdelbaggi has completely forgotten the inhumane suffering of millions of South Sudanese as a result of a lack of access to proper medical care, and safe water. He delights in style to Dubai and other places for holidays and vacations while his countrymen languish in wait for the day they will finalize the peace implementation to bring lasting peace and security in South Sudan. But for him, it is the joy of his life, the situation he is in.
Clueless as he is, Mr. Abdelbaggi is a Vice President who lacks any technical knowhow on how to utilize the office and the resources allocated to him to deliver essential services to South Sudanese at this critical hour of need when more than 9 million South Sudanese are projected to face severe hunger in 2024. The Vice President has forgotten that he owes the South Sudanese a huge debt for utterly failing to deliver any tangible success on any project within the service cluster.
The writer is a concerned citizen and resident of Northern Bahr El Ghazal State and can be reached at Mosesgaranggarang@gmail.com.
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the responsibility of the author, not Radio Tamazuj.