South Sudanese Must Give Adut Salva Kiir The Benefit Of The Doubt

By Peter M. Akol

There have been a lot of rumors and conjecture around the person and alleged actions of First Daughter Adut Salva Kiir, who also serves as the Senior Presidential Envoy on Special Programs. Her appointment to the position raised quite a storm, and the president’s haters tried to use it against him, the government, and Adut-unsuccessfully.

Some vile and clueless people have, over the years, tried to use the nepotism card, but were unsuccessful because Adut’s record has been clear, especially as a philanthropist, self-made businesswoman, and a firm administrator.

To prove that Adut’s detractors target her solely to get to President Kiir, we must go back to her marriage in October 2011. She wed Ethiopian businessman Nardes GebeyehuAlemneh in a well and widely attended church ceremony held at the All Saints Rejaf Catholic Church in Juba, South Sudan. However, soon after the wedding, there was a lot of hullabaloo because she married a foreigner, an Ethiopian. The ruckus mostly came from her fellow Jieng (Dinka) youth who were against the union and insisted that Adut should have gotten married to a South Sudanese, particularly a Jieng, being the president’s eldest daughter. I am sure many of them saw themselves as her suitor and later, husband.

When these youths and their backers failed to derail Adut’smarriage, they turned the whole matter political and went after the president and his family, and started abusing and disparaging them. Many called out the president and said he had failed the country, just because he gave his daughter to a foreigner. What does a young girl’s love choice have to do with the politics of a country?

First Lady Mama Mary Ayen later called some of the most vocal youth who were against Adut’s marriage and hosted them to lunch while imploring them to leave Adut’s private life alone, insisting that her marriage had nothing to do with politics. However, the issue had already been unfairly politicized.

Adut has been running the Adut Salva Kiir Foundation (ASK), which has, for a very long time, given scholarships to less privileged pupils and students, doled out food and non-food items to displaced and underprivileged South Sudanese, financed public causes, and treated the sick, among other acts and charitable programs. Why would we castigate such a compassionate person? Has the trauma of years of war hardened the hearts of South Sudanese to the point that they do not see the good in people?

Several former senior government employees who were fired from office for corruption and mismanagement now actively and daily abuse Adut and her father on social media platforms. Others actively fomented war soon after independence in their rash attempt to gain power, and the country is still suffering from the effects of the conflicts they manufactured and continue stirring. The fact is that they are just bitter and do not want to be held accountable for failing the people of South Sudan. They now take it out on Adut, who is known to be principled and does not entertain people who have failed the government.

Some have blamed Kiir for practicing nepotism by appointing his daughter as a special envoy without examining the merits of her employment. Adut is known to be measured, composed, thoughtful, and for acting after thoroughly weighing all variables. She is educated, articulate, well-disciplined, and carries herself very professionally at work and in public. What better person to represent South Sudan and her people locally and internationally? Why do South Sudanese prefer crude, uncouth people who cast the country in a negative light? Adutbrings decorum and poise to the highest office. We must encourage her, not demonize her.

President Kiir is not the first to appoint a competent child to public office in the world. There are many examples, like U.S. President Donald Trump, who appointed his daughter, IvankaTrump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to official roles as senior advisers in the White House during his first administration, and President Gen. Yoweri Museveni, whose son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, capably serves as the Chief of Defense Forces just next door in Uganda. Rwandan President Paul Kagame appointed his daughter, Ange Kagame, as Deputy Executive Director of the Strategy and Policy Council in the Office of the President. He also appointed his eldest son, Ivan Kagame, to the board of the Rwandan Development Board in 2020. Former Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimbaappointed his eldest son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, to serve as Coordinator of Presidential Affairs in 2019. The above are just a few examples, and all those countries are thriving and did not collapse because the presidents appointed their able and qualified children to public offices.

In fact, in a fragile country like South Sudan, where there are countless defections and counter-defections, and selfish, treacherous politicians, perhaps it is prudent for the president to appoint a person he can trust and who will not stab him in the back by pushing their own political agenda while meeting foreign parties.

The main issue must be the competence of the person and not their relations with the appointing authority. Therefore, Adutshould be judged according to her strengths.

Other people have also insinuated that Adut has been involved in private business, which should disqualify her from public office. This is myopic, to say the least. How do people who push such arguments expect her to survive? Adut, like every citizen of South Sudan, has the right to do legitimate business. The first daughter has been involved in business, has not denied it, and has used some of her proceeds to finance the humanitarian activities of her foundation, to the benefit of many citizens. No law bars her and her siblings from business.

Conversely, male chauvinists keep singing that Adut should not hold high office because she is a woman. They argue that across all cultures in South Sudan, representative high or political offices are the domain of men. Others, particularly my Jiengtribesmen, keep saying that a woman who is married belongs to her husband’s people and should seek office through her husband’s people. This is archaic thinking that should not be tolerated in this modern era. So, you will refuse a good leader, or say a medical superintendent, just because she got married far away? This is simply absurd.

Many of the haters of President Kiir, his daughter, and his family have tried to drag their names into unsubstantiated corruption scandals. They have failed to prove beyond doubt these allegations and the negative propaganda orchestrated by their foreign handlers to stimulate regime change. They have continuously and severally, and without evidence, tried to link Adut, along with other diligent government officials, to Crawford Ltd, and the government’s E-Service System. Amusingly, they have named the known and registered shareholders of the company, and Adut does not appear as a director, nor is she remotely connected to the company. After failing miserably to link her to the company, which was legally contracted by the government in November 2019 to provide e- government services, they came up with fictitious company organograms (organizational charts), putting her at the top of the management of the company without any defined role or shareholding. A very poor attempt at shifting public opinionagainst Adut and the first family. Sad!

The people of South Sudan are now awake after repeatedly failing to see any solid evidence of President Kiir’s and Adut’sinvolvement in fraud. The prudent thing would be for those accusing Adut of corruption to present proper evidence and take her to local, regional, or international courts. This has not happened.

Just on Saturday, Adut’s office convened the second High-LevelPan-African Engagement Forum, which was attended by H.E Jakaya Kikweta, the former President of the Republic of Tanzania, who now serves as the African Union High-LevelEnvoy to the Horn of Africa and Red Sea. During the session, Adut announced a plan to launch an inter-party dialogue next month to bring together political parties and any willing parties ahead of the December 2026 elections. People have been shouting themselves hoarse about the need to hold a broad-based political dialogue attended by all stakeholders, including unarmed and armed opposition groups, to put the country back on the path of peace. Well, Adut has listened and initiated it, perhaps, in the process, even going against many of the hardliners in the SPLM Party. What else can you blame her for? Let us acknowledge positive moves!

Let those making accusations stand up or keep quiet. The use of rumors and negative propaganda has been detrimental to peace in South Sudan and must not be entertained.

We must give Adut the benefit of the doubt and time to prove herself and her worth.

God bless South Sudan!

The author is a concerned South Sudanese. Contact: [email protected].