Judicial Autocracy and Public Trust Deficit: What the New Judicial Leadership Must Do Differently to Save the Judiciary of South Sudan
Publication Summary
On 28 May 2025, President Salva Kiir removed Justice Chan Reec Madut and Justice John Gatwich Lul, Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice respectively, in a presidential decree, read on the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC). The President replaced Justice Chan Reec Madut with Justice Dr. Benjamin Baak Deng as Chief Justice and Justice Lado Tanquilo as Deputy Chief Justice. The changes in the leadership of the judiciary, which are widely celebrated, present an opportunity to free a judiciary that has been under siege from both internal and external forces since the country’s independence in 2011. This Brief examines the opportunities that changes in judicial leadership provide and how the new leadership can seize the moment to save the judiciary from judicial autocracy, internal contradictions, and public trust deficit. It critiques the previous judicial leadership and highlights opportunities for restoring accountability, credibility, integrity, and professionalism in the judiciary. The Brief concludes by recommending that the new judicial leadership should prioritize restoring public trust in the judiciary as a service-delivery institution.
Mading Gum is a constitutional lawyer and the managing partner for Mading & Co. Advocates. He is a law lecturer and head of Private Law Department at the School of Law of the University of Juba. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Juba, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD, Rwanda), and a Master of Laws degree (LL.M) in Law, Governance and Democracy from the University of Nairobi School of Law. He is also a member of the South Sudan Bar Association.