| ADDRESS TO
THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE GOSS
MARCH 26, 2011, JUBA, SUDAN
Download the PDF with ths link - Rev.
Cal. R. Bombay
Integrity Verses Corruption In Government - A Moral Framework
Your Excellency, President Salva Kiir Mayardit
Rt. Honourable Speaker of the House,
Your Excellencies
Honourable Members of the House,
Ladies and gentlemen
I come to you as a friend of South Sudan. I have been involved in helping South Sudan for fourteen years, and have come to love and want the best for your newly elected Government and your people and the about-to-be newest nation on earth.
I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
It is a great privilege to stand before this distinguished body and to address you on one of the most basic of all subjects which will insure that your country will have success and development in an atmosphere of confidence and peace. I too belong to a comparatively young nation, Canada. I return to Canada in a few days to cast my own vote for a government to re-form in Ottawa, Canada.
I am here today to talk with you about Integrity and Corruption. I am not here to give you guidelines in how to legally address the problems of corruption, fraud, nepotism and the abuse power. That is for this august house to address as you make your laws.
I am here to speak to you from a totally different perspective: that of morality. I hope I can help you lay a Moral Foundation on which you will be able to build your future as a Nation. Morality is not a take-it-or-leave-it concept. It is absolutely foundational for a strong structure of law and civil society.
I am here to warn you that corruption has the potential to destroy you as individuals and to cause a social holocaust in this country. You have seen it happen in many other African countries. And I want to state right from the beginning that I am certain that not one of you wants South Sudan to fail. Is that true? You have before you an opportunity to set new standards for this whole continent. But it has to start in your hearts, your minds, your morals and your very souls as individuals.
What I have to say to you today are facts. These facts are as inescapable as death. The truth I share today is as certain as God Himself, and comes from His Word.
What I have to say, or quote, may stir some feelings of anger, some of joy, some of guilt, and perhaps even some of hatred. Hate me if you will, but please, for your own well-being and safety, both personally and collectively as a government and nation, respect and honour God and the moral demands He puts on you as leaders.
For any government to operate successfully there must be a moral framework in which its laws and operational standards must be formulated. I am offering that to you today. A moral standard is needed to hold within its bounds the restraints which will affect every citizen of South Sudan. We have seen the lack of such moral restraints in too many other countries which has brought chaos, death and ruin. South Sudan now has the golden opportunity, and extremely rare opportunity, to be an example, not just to Africa, but to the world.
Since the signing of The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, you have not had an easy road. The Government of South Sudan is gradually coming together. Progress is being made toward a future with hopes for every tribe and clan, every family and every individual in South Sudan. From the time of the signing of the CPA, you should have considered yourselves all as members of one big family with no favourite sons or daughters. It is true that families have disputes, but good families do not kill each other over disputes.
Now that you have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a free nation on the Referendum of January 9th which the whole world watched, you can be certain that every nation on earth will continue to watch you now as you begin to develop a high degree of morality and integrity in your new country.
Every citizen in and under this government wants peace. They want prosperity, freedom of conscience, freedom of movement, and opportunity. They want to become personally established and secure, and to feed and educate themselves and their children. They want all the rights and privileges they deserve after so many years of torture, agony and death.
Too many people have died to bring us to this place and this time. TWO MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND men, women and children have died in this struggle since 1989. If we go back to Anynanya One and 1956 the number is closer to FIVE MILLION South Sudan citizens dying as a result of the struggle and conflict.
Let us not waste their agony and deaths, and the years of torture, starvation and patience in suffering of those who have survived one of the most horrible genocides in history, by taking selfish personal advantage of what the future should hold for every citizen of South Sudan.
Every citizen of South Sudan has suffered and sacrificed for what the future should now hold. Every citizen of South Sudan must have a tangible piece of the hope and prosperity the future holds. It is not just for the elite, the well positioned and the highly educated. It is also for the men and women with one leg, or the decimated family – it is not just you who have suffered. The people in the villages need to see progress that touches and changes their lives, not just to hear promises about change.
I quote Transparency International - NAIROBI, 26 June 2008 – “Corruption is one of the main causes of a global crisis that deprives more than a billion people of access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion of access to sanitation systems.” And that has to do only with water!”
Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan activist who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, writes in the report that the global water crisis is (quote) "of our own doing, a crisis of governance: man-made, with ignorance, greed and corruption at its core. But the worst of them is corruption."(end-quote)
You are in extremely privileged positions! Positions which give you access to enticing and tempting opportunity.
But none of you, not one - deserves advantages over the common people in the villages who have suffered as much pain, agony and loss of family and property as you may also have suffered. They have suffered as much, and often perhaps more than you. They too have a major stake in the future of this country about to be birthed.
Can you possibly justify that you should have greater privileges and opportunities than the man in rags, on one leg, with crutches, because his sacrifice was less than yours, in order for you to wear a tailored suite and live in a fine home while he begs on the streets?
Can you possibly justify living in growing luxury while the war widow with a few children, no income and little opportunity, watches foreign aid going everywhere else but not to her benefit? If you want their vote, you will have to show them that you care enough for them to be satisfied with your own honest wage, and no more. Your people are looking for more than words and promises. They desperately need real help from compassionate leaders.
The world is watching! Believe me when I say that. THE WORLD IS WATCHING YOU!
Southern Sudan must become a country of equity without discrimination. Otherwise failure looms on the horizon.
To see this accomplished, the common citizen in the most distant and untouched areas, who, and I repeat desperately needs to see leaders who, under God, will give them reality and not just theoretical opportunity.
Without God none of it will be possible. Without a moral compass South Sudan will go in many wrong directions. It is God who brought you this far. Without leaders who are as desperate as the common man, woman and child in southern Sudan, life can and will become just like so much of Africa has already become: riddled with corruption, graft, greed and self-serving decisions.
I, like the rest of the world, have access to the internet. I can, and others have, traced monies which have already crept out of this country illegally.
There are some listening to me right now who need to examine themselves and bring their minds back to the desperation felt in the bush, in the conflict, and when under military attack or in exile, because it is not over. Sacrifice is still needed by you – not just by those now returning from refugee camps outside Sudan with nothing at all.
It is one thing to pick up a lost coin on the street, but it is quite another to manipulate and divert millions of designated donor dollars to selfish purposes for family and friends, just because you have access to it. You may feel I am being rather blunt and that I am cutting a bit too close to the bone as a foreigner among you. But every one of you knows in the deepest part of your heart, that what I say is true.
The fact that you are leaders is not merely a political, military or random chance. It is an appointment by God. You may say perhaps, “I won the vote!” Now, you must now win the hearts of your people. Being leaders and decision makers on behalf of a nation is no easy matter. It comes with great responsibility, and great challenge. It takes intelligent people, yet people with a love and compassion and a good dose of common sense to make good laws.
You are going to govern. You will have authority. But listen to this from Romans 13:1: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” Don’t take advantage of that appointment!!!
And, I might just add, God can take people OUT of those positions of authority quickly, for God demands justice and righteousness from every one of you in leadership.
South Sudan stands right now at the brink of the possibility to introduce a new model for ALL of Africa by the example you as leaders set. There exist two possibilities:
(A) – Either to become the first nation in Africa to live under a high order of integrity and morality for your civil society with honestly, compassion and love, and to prosper, or . . . . .
. . . . . and . . . . . I say this in all sobriety because there are enemies right among you:
(B) – . . . or you can degenerate into chaos, corruption and moral decay. Corruption can and will destroy the future of South Sudan. And make no mistake about it, those who practice corruption among you – THEY are the enemy!
How do you want to be remembered in the history books? As a crook, or as a person who gave your whole heart to the building of South Sudan?
You have enough enemies outside this Legislature. You dare not have enemies within!
Let me read from the Bible, in Proverbs 11:3-6:
“The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
But righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the blameless will direct his way aright, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be taken by their own lust.”
(Here I added a challenge to read Proverbs chapter eleven EVERY DAY until it becomes a part of their thinking)
I remember clearly what the Rt. Hon. James Wani Igga said at the private dinner celebration at the home of the late honoured and well loved Dr. John Garang de Mabior in January 2005 in Nairobi. He quoted the staggering statistics about corruption and its cost in dollars to the world. He stated, (and I quote) “Ninety-five percent of the money diverted by corruption happens in Africa”. He went on to say that he wants to see a New Sudan with a different reputation; a reputation of honesty, ethics, integrity and openness.
I hope that is the desire of the deepest part of the hearts of all of you here today.
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I am working with the Savannah Farmers Cooperative here in Sudan. We have had to deal with corruption. I know what it is like to have to dismiss people whom I have considered friends, but who have stolen what belongs to the people. I have not raised millions of dollars over the past 14 years to have it diverted to private and personal gain.
The Chairman of our Board of Directors, Mr. Steven Wondu, myself as Vice-Chairman of the Board, and The Hon. Zamba Duku, Managing Director, and the full Board of the SFC have adopted a “ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY” for corruption. We will pursue that with vigour!
It may be interesting for you to know that when we dealt with corruption in one instance, that my life and well-being was threatened. God has a way of dealing with such situations… The man most threatening to me met an early death by very natural causes. I am not saying God did that, but on the other hand . . . it may have been God taking early action. . . God wants South Sudan to be a nation of righteousness.
I must inform you and warn you that Satanic forces have a way of placing opportunities directly in your paths. These are illegitimate opportunities to make personal gain, by directly or indirectly robbing the citizens of this rich but as yet undeveloped Garden of Eden called South Sudan. The law will deal with them. And God has a way of dealing with them too! It may seem to be delayed, but God will act.
Daniel 11:32 (Daniel was a prophet of God in exile in Babylon who rose to great power as a foreigner and slave)
“Those who do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits”
There any many people in this world having their own private and selfish agendas. There are some like that right here in South Sudan. Their secret plans are to personally milk the system for everything they can get for themselves and their friends. They will try to divert international aid to personal gain. These people are in greater danger than they can possibly ever imagine.
Do I know who they are? I don’t know who they all are. But God does! And just like you, I know enough about human nature to have no doubt that there are enemies among you who will take as much for themselves as possible - not realizing that power and riches are very temporary, and death and the grave swallows us all.
Galatians 6:8 -
“For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, the future of this Government of South Sudan is in your hands.
The success or failure of the Government of South Sudan hinges, it literally hangs in the balances, by your acts of integrity, honesty, ethical thinking and behaviour . . . or your involvement in corruption and selfishly motivated decisions.
There are enemies outside South Sudan who will lay traps for you and who will do everything in their power to cause this government to fail. Some of those enemies are human. Others are spiritual powers of darkness. Personal and corporate diligence and a willingness to be accountable, not just of South Sudan but to be accountable to God Himself, is essential.
For, I assure you on the authority of this book, the Bible, GOD’S Word, that each one of us will face God in judgement for the things we do in this life. We will all be held accountable.
The prophet Jeremiah says very clearly in Jer. 17:1:
“As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, so is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, and at his end he will be a fool.”
Remember this! The Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” “
You not only make yourself a fool by corrupt accumulation of wealth, but you will, as a fool, face the judgment of God!
2 Corinthians 5:10 -
“For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
I assure you, standing before God the judge of all mankind will be a much more terrifying experience than standing before a firing squad!
And I can further assure you that all the money hidden in bank accounts in Switzerland or elsewhere, or even the best Villa on the shores of France will do you no good whatever, when you stand before God, naked and revealed for what you truly are.
Eternity in hell will be a long period to regret the foolish lust of the flesh during this short life.
Millions of dollars are flowing into South Sudan for development, for education, to develop infrastructure, for establishing industries and for the good of every citizen of South Sudan. Tribalism, nepotism and under-the-table deals will just cause havoc, jealousies, reprisal and strife.
You don’t need that! You can’t afford that!!!
Transparency will inspire trust. Trust will inspire unity, and unity will give you a national strength you have never dreamed possible.
I come from Canada. My country was in danger of being ripped apart because of corruption, political patronage and secret payments by some people in our government. Those “secret dealings” are no longer secret. I am ashamed of what happened in Canada. It is causing a deep distrust by Canadians of any government or political party we have. It was not always so.
When Canada began to abandon God and righteousness, God began to lift his blessing and protection over my country. I fear for my own country’s future.
It is impossible to hide acts of sin, unrighteousness and corruption. It will all be discovered in due course.
Jesus said, in Luke 8:17:
“For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.”
Failure need not be the case here in South Sudan. But GOD Himself must be the guiding force in legal, moral and ethical decision-making. His Word must be a guide to your footsteps, and a light to your path into the future.
It would be good for every one of you to read a portion of the book of Proverbs every day of your life in leadership. In fact, I strongly recommend you to read the proverbs. There is GREAT wisdom in those proverbs. And you need wisdom!!! God’s Word is clear, and leaves no room for manipulation and clever manoeuvres.
The Government of South Sudan has started with a distinct disadvantage. According to “Transparency International”, Sudan, on a descending scale of 10 to Zero, already ranked at a low of 2.1. - almost at the bottom. This was determined by 5 different and distinct surveys. But now you have a new country with opportunity for righteousness to rule. A new beginning!
You inherited a reputation already set before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That reputation must now be left behind you.
That inheritance of evil must be refused, buried, not as a treasure is buried, but as the rotting corpse of a deadly spiritual Ebola.
What happens from this point on in the Government of South Sudan will be determined by you and you alone. Exterior forces will try to corrupt you – but you must become as strong as tempered steel and resist the false hopes - promised by those who will detract you from what is best for your people – people from ALL your tribes, not just your own personal tribe, clan and family.
Newspapers around the world will trace your developing history. The internet allows no secrets.
Corruption must be stopped. Those guilty must be exposed and punished in order to gain the trust of your people.
ALL your people, of all tribes, all the clans and families must learn to trust you. If they cannot trust you, the future of this government is already dead.
Earning that trust will be a difficult task. And earn it you MUST!
Some of you may ask, “Who are you to tell us these things?”
I believe the last fourteen years of my life and involvement in South Sudan have led me to this moment, right now, here, TODAY!
I lay no special claim to authority except that given me by God and His Word, this Bible. It is with His authority I say these things because they are clearly taught in His Word. It has also been clearly illustrated over and over again throughout history in most countries of the world.
Leviticus 19:36 - “You must have honest scales and just weights”.
Proverbs 11:1 - “Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.”
Hosea 12:6-7 - “So you, by the help of your God, return; observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually. A cunning Canaanite! Deceitful scales are in his hand; he loves to oppress!”
God has always dealt harshly with corruption and violence. Success may last for a while, but God will not allow it to go on forever. In Genesis 6:1 we read how early in man’s history corruption and violence began. It was in the days of Noah.
“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
That’s when God sent the greatest natural disaster the world has ever known. Japan’s modern earthquake and Tsunami was small compared to God’s judgement by flooding the whole earth - and only righteous Noah and his family were spared.
In Psalm 14:1 we read of the foolishness of man in rejecting God by practising corruption. We see God’s final assessment:“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’ - - - They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good!”
We read that God stood, and still stands, with the righteous, and brings ruin on those who are corrupt. It may not be immediate, but ruin does come to those who taunt God.
Some of you know personally about some of the corruption which has already begun here in South Sudan. I challenge you to keep your eyes on those who practice it – for I can promise you, their end will be destruction, shame and poverty.
God favours no man. He sends His rains on the just and the unjust. And God honours hard work. If it rains and you don’t plant, you judge yourself with hunger.
Jesus Christ is right here in this assembly right now. He watches your proceedings and sees the motives of every heart in every one of you – and of me too. God has no blessing and protection for the corrupt, the thief, and the power-hungry or the lazy. It is God, I remind you, who puts one up and another down – and He has His reasons.
Ephesians 4:20-24: “But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Let me share with you a promise of God which I believe is very fitting to South Sudan:
Isaiah 58:12-14 “Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundation of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of The Breach, and the restorer of the streets to dwell in.”
“If you turn your feet away from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my Holy Day, and call the Holy Day a delight, the holy day of the Lord is honourable, and shall honour Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasures, nor speaking your own words,
“Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth....”
My prayer is that God will lavish His gifts upon South Sudan for the relief and development which is so critical to South Sudan’s future. But with those lavish gifts come real and heavy responsibility. The Apostle Paul mentions these kinds of things in 2 Corinthians 8:20-21, when he was entrusted with funds for other people. He says this:
“.... avoiding this; that anyone should blame us in this lavish gift which is administered by us ... providing honourable things, not only in the sight of God, but in the sight of men.”
If you think you can hide your corruption, you are deeply deceived. It just cannot be done.
The answer to it all is simply this: Keep your hands clean!
God has His eyes on South Sudan. The world also is watching Southern Sudan to see if the Government and people of South Sudan go their lustful and greedy ways, or set a new precedent for Africa, and indeed, the world.
You are the decision makers. You will make and enforce all the laws for South Sudan. These laws will apply to everyone in Southern Sudan: to the rich and to the poor, to the low and the high, to the powerful and to the powerless. You will have to enforce them with rigour, equity and equality. You will have to examine your own hearts. YOU YOURSELVES WILL BE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS YOU PASS.
Respect for the Laws and the Constitution on which the laws are built are an absolute essential for good governance. Lawlessness breeds more lawlessness which eventually in the end breeds anarchy. You must realize that if you break the law, the law will break you!
Many of you went into the bush many years ago, willing to sacrifice your lives for the potential which now exists for you. Many did give their lives! You MUST honour their sacrifice!
You must now enter the future, willing once again to sacrifice your lives and your own personal ambitions to uphold the law and the constitution of the Government of South Sudan. You are not only the creators of these laws - you are the watchdogs to enforce the law. Take these duties seriously!
You will have to be leaders in righteousness, in character, in honesty, in transparency and in truth. You WILL do this.
You MUST do this!
There is no such thing as Diplomatic Immunity with God!
Now…. let me remind you of what the Bible says to you who are Christians in this Assembly. And when I say Christians, I am not talking about people who have a Christian veneer. I am talking about Christians who know the mind of God, and have enough conscience to walk straight and true.
I John 4:4: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
You have the power in you to resist and conquer corruption.
May God Himself bless and keep you, may God make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace.
God bless South Sudan.
Let us pray…………………(Here are prayed…. Then said the following…..)
Before I sit down, I want to give you an opportunity to make a covenant with both God, and with the people of South Sudan and this government which represents the already over-burdened people of this nation.
If you are willing to represent honesty, integrity and truth in the building of this nation, please stand where you are!
(Everyone stood, though some were noticed to be squirming and reluctant).
I had them repeat after me:
I stand before God and man today, and make a solemn promise that I will renounce any corruption, theft or manipulation of public funds, or finances from supporting nations and commercial investments, and that I will serve the people of South Sudan with honesty, integrity and truth - so help me God!
Let us pray as we all stand. (I prayed again that God would hold them to their promise.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Deputy Chairman then gave a rather impassioned summary and plea to listen to what had been said, and to fight corruption starting “right now”.
He then opened it for questions and/or comments. Hands went up. One of the first to speak said that, “I have been fighting against corruption and will die to see it defeated.” Later in a private office at the Legislative Building, he said to me that he meant what he said publicly. He went on to say that he had been tempted to leave politics because of the corruption… but will carry on the fight.
The other five or so who had an opportunity given by the Deputy Speaker made positive remarks about what I said, some asking questions which I answered from the text of the lecture, though spontaneously. The last one who had what I thought was a Muslim kofia (hat) on, was VERY complimentary, and suggested I be offered citizenship in South Sudan, to which there was widespread applause.
The whole speech (Lecture) was broadcast on the United Nations’ Radio Miraya (in Khartoum), and heard throughout the country, including the north of Sudan and other countries around. When I went to our farms near Kajokeji, people greeted me with smiles saying they had heard it on the radio. Someone told me it went onto TV out of JUBA as well, but that has yet to be confirmed to me.
Now will come the very large challenge for the GOSS: How to put the mechanics of law together to attempt to sweep corruption out before it becomes too deeply ingrained in their society!
On my return to Juba to fly home to Canada, I was summoned by the Governor of Central Equatoria State to come to his office – he wanted to meet ‘this man’. His Excellency Climent Wani Kouga was very complimentary and we chatted for some time. He gave me his card with his personal cell phone number to ‘call me anytime’.
Serious prayer is needed now and for many months to come for the law-makers in South Sudan to act appropriately in their own spheres of power, and that laws which will be passed will have teeth, strength and immediacy.
Cal R. Bombay (Rev.)
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