February 6, 2012
I do believe that the main purpose of criticizing someone is to help the criticized person evaluate his/her official performance. It would be futile to criticize people who’re change-proof. People who hate positive change so much so that any prospects of change or what they perceive as their favourable status quo makes them nauseous, don’t deserve any criticism. I wouldn’t criticize people like that.
First, when the president ordered the arrest of the two young journalists, who exercised their democratic right, my two able gentlemen in the information ministry condoned the president’s action. They aimed their words at the victims. That sent a wrong message both to the president and the security agents. I have a message for you here: (Watch: KuirthiyTV)
There are channels in which the ministers can tell the president that his actions are wrong without appearing disrespectful to the boss. President Kiir is easily misled but he has one quality the ministers can capitalize on to effect positive change: he listens to people.
Stop misleading the president. Condoning his misdeeds is only destroying his standing among South Sudanese. He has to be corrected not feared if he is to do anything at all for South Sudan.
That was my first discontent with Mr. Atem and Dr. Marial.
My second disappointment with Dr. Marial Benjamin came from his response to Aljazeera journalist, Anna Cavell (Watch: Aljazera). Marial said that the refugees [sic] are the responsibility of the UN; especially the U.N.H.C.R. Are you kidding me?
They’re IDPs, not refugees, by UN definition. These people are not under the mandate of the U.N.H.C.R, strictly speaking. The internally displaced persons are the responsibility of the government concerned, in this case, South Sudan government. U.N only helps if there is no any party willing to take responsibility. I don’t know if South Sudan government is abdicating its responsibility or doesn’t know it.
So saying citizens of your own country, the people you were put in that office to serve, are not the responsibility of their own government, is the worst gaff any citizen can ever hear from his or her own government.
One can understand the sorry state of things in South Sudan. The government is nascent and stretched understandably beyond limits. Any conscientious South Sudanese would and should understand that. However, saying your own fellow citizens, within your own borders, are not your responsibility needs to be retracted. An apology should be given to the IDPs. Or maybe no! They just don’t matter! Or you don’t care!
What would these displaced people think if they hear their own government is saying they’re not its responsibility? That whatever the government would do is to help the UN. It should be the UN helping the government as a favour not the other way round.
South Sudanese in Uganda or Kenya or Ethiopia are refugees by definition. And they’re the UN’s official responsibility, not people displaced within South Sudan borders.
The face of the government, the information minister and the official spokesperson, should be on the forefront of credible information and hard facts procurement. Read, for your job, SIR.
Notwithstanding those grievances, I do believe you have the potential to change not only the information landscape in South Sudan, but how other ministries use information for the benefit of all South Sudanese; and more so, how the President is informed and advised. If the president is advised by educated people who don’t check facts, then we’re on the wrong path. Or maybe, my apologies, doomed!
Kuir ё Garang is a South Sudanese Poet and Author living in Canada. For more information visit www.kuirthiy.info
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Mïïth ku Diäär Turuk Kuol Manyang!
Calgary, Jan. 8, 2012
Former American president Herbert Hoover once said that children (mïïth) are our most valuable natural resources. I don’t know how many of our leaders believe that. However, our leaders seem to have assumed that their children are the most valuable natural resources in the country.
They don’t feel the same pain the average person in South Sudan feel: hunger, disease, insecurity, dismal education and you can count on…
Does Nyoka’s daughter in Kaya count? Does Achol’s son in Jalle count? Does Nyamal’s daughter in Nasir count? Does Okot’s niece in Pochalla count? Or does that 15 year old who carries water everyday in Chukudum without going to school count?
Our leaders would shamefully say yes, but what would back up such a callous and empty YES?
Inter and intra-tribal classes are killing the face of the nation (mïïth) almost everyday and one wonders if the leaders do feel the pain of the parents, who are losing their children everyday to various challenges. Of course none of our leaders has any reason to meaningfully protect and care for any child in South Sudan when their children are studying in foreign schools; driving Mercedes and BMWs.
We are losing Mïïth to illiteracy, poverty and insecurity. Athor caused (before his fateful demise) havoc in places like Fangak, Atar and Piji. Akobo has become a battle ground between Nuer and Murle. The senseless slaughter of women (diäär) and children in Jalle payam leaves one wondering if our leaders do feel anything at all. Then we recently had the mind-boggling action of Lou-Nuer with a few elements from Twi Dinka (Jiëng) of Jonglei. You wonder when this is going to end.
We do understand that changing South Sudan into a peaceful, democratic and prosperous nation is going to take years if not decades because of the legacy of war, however, what we need to get from our leaders is a clear strategic structure and vision aimed at combating all these ills.
The state governor, Kuol Manyang, has to put in place how he plans to combat insecurity. Disarmament is part of the process leading to security but it’s by no means the only one. There has to be a vigorous education campaign aimed at changing the mind-set of the average person in South Sudan, and making sure the youth is constructively engaged. The pious say that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop, but I say, an idle mind is an opportunist’s ideal destructive apparatus.
The saddest part of the whole affair is that the leaders themselves need some education on how to change their mind-sets. Criticism and advice is still frowned upon. Critics are threatened with death if they voice any crucial concerns. Well, one can deny corruption because it can be disguised, however, the death of innocent women and children is something Kuol Manyang and other leaders should be ashamed of.
Seeing the death of innocent mïïth everyday makes me sick. Kuol Manyang has become so indifferent if not incompetent that I wonder why he saw the senseless slaughter of over 40 people most of them diäär and mïïth in Jalle payam, the callous killing of over 600 diäär, mïïth and men of Lou- and the recent destruction of Murle land, and doesn’t resign. I appreciate SPLA spokesperson, Aguer Panyang, who said SPLA and the government of South Sudan should take the blame for the death of people in Jalle Payam. That’s what a leader is supposed to do: take responsibility not give excuses as to why these people weren’t protected. Although Riek Machar is part of the problem in his creation of the ‘white army’ he showed what a leader should do in his effort to dissuade Lou-Nuer youth.
I do know Jonglei state is one of the most diverse states in South Sudan and governing it isn’t easy. Whether it’s Thon Leek or Kuol Manyang or any other person, the challenges are enormous and difficult to deal with. Withal that, we need the government to put in place methods to be used to combat insecurity in Jonglei state. Disarmament and reconciliation are two ingredients in a soup called security. Security is not an event; it’s a process or even a campaign. The governor should come out in force and explain in clear terms what he plans to do for the next six months, one year etc.
Decentralization should not only be in paper but in practice. Certain state administrative offices should be transferred, from the state headquarter of Mading/Bor, to other places like Pibor, Akobo, Ayod and other peripheral areas in Jonglei.
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President Kiir’s promised 100 days and his engendered political ambience through security puppies
If any South Sudanese claims she/he wasn’t happy during the declaration of independence on July 9, then one would be excused if one called them malicious. And if anyone of us says that they are completely happy with the way the government is handling our economic, security and foreign affairs issues now, then we’d know that this insincere voice is benefiting, one way or another, from corrupt practices.
It’s been more than 100 days now and we are still waiting for a comprehensive report from the president and his government about what they’ve achieved. It would be unbecoming of the president to bravely promise the average citizen results within 100 days only to give us an impression of ‘I said it but I’m the boss so don’t ask me a darn thing!’ Hey, Mr. president, we want to know!
If the president failed to achieve anything, the average citizen has to know. If the president achieved something then we need to know too for us to acknowledge it. Failure to address this issue would amount to unspeakable deception of citizenry by the government.
After more than 100 days, the following issues have to be noted as some of the salient maladies still coming out of Juba.
Extreme Fear of the President: Every single person in Juba is scared of Kiir’s powers. Well, I don’t blame them that much, because I’d be scared too. President Kiir is a man who listens but he listens to about everybody who’s going to give him the most mischievous and detrimental of information.
When the minister of Information and the government’s official spokesperson, Dr. Marial Benjamin, tells Journalists that they have to report responsibly without warning the security forces about extra-judicial arrests, you know he’s afraid of (not respect) the president. This also sends wrong, excusing signals to the security puppies that they’re right in whatever they do.
And when a fearless veteran journalist and current deputy minister of information, Atem Yaak Atem, tells journalists that they have to cooperate with the security forces then you know something is terribly wrong. And you know what has changed is only the name and place (Juba instead of Khartoum) but the monstrous torturous instruments and mentality remain.
An opinion piece about the president’s daughter marrying an Ethiopian immigrant isn’t a national security matter (unless the president’s daughter has some high level security clearance) so calling for journalists to cooperate with aimless security puppies on this matter is irresponsible.
How about George Athor killing innocent people? Now, that sounds like a national security problem they should solve not arrest journalists and individuals because of opinions pieces that aren’t even deeply investigative.
Random Extra-judicial Arrests for defamation: Of course anyone can file charges on defamation, libels or character assassination. Your lawyer (s) files charges and tables them before an able court. If there are credible grounds for charges then the accused is summoned to answer the charges with his/her lawyers. What you don’t do is to arrest someone because you simply feel offended and you have powers to do so before the ground under which someone is arrested is authenticated by an able court. After 100 days, Khartoum’s aimless brutal security culture of arresting before investigating is consuming Juba. This is saddening because this appears to be Bashir inside Kiir. "Sayed Beshir, you think you're bad, but I, Kiir Mayardit, am badder!"
Dismal Security Condition: We have rebels of South Sudan Liberation Army threatening our citizens in Unity States. We have mindless George Athor killing innocent people in Jonglei state. Yet we don’t hear clear instrumental solutions intended for the protection of the civilians even after presidential 100 days declaration. The money is being used to install a kingdom through intimidation of citizens instead of warning Khartoum against aggression or making sure the security situation in the South is made conducive for individual living and investment.
Endorsing Corruption: Now, apart from the removal of anti-corruption chief, little to nothing actually happened, or is happening, in terms of efforts to fight corruption. Even after the government’s chief accountant, Steve Wondu, authenticated what we’ve been singing for the last six years, the government still hasn’t acted on corruption. All we hear are empty warnings against corruption and presumably aimless presidential visits to foreign countries as people die in Jonglei and Unity State. Even more nauseating incident is the scandalous ‘Cabinet Retreat,’ unless the cabinet didn’t know the appropriate word to use, as someone tried to supposedly ‘correct’ the misunderstanding, is a collective corrupt action or gross incompetent decision-wise. A retreat means what it means: a quiet place for deliberation. Don’t we have such places in South Sudan? When a country is in turmoil and lacks resources, you stay with your people, not retreat to quiet, foreign and costly places! The cabinet should make the amount spent on the retreat available for us to see. This will be part of fighting corruption through accountability.
Khartoum’s Constant Aggression: The president keeps on saying ‘no going back to war.’ I wished his advisors would tell him that it is not going back to war; it’s the protection of a sovereign nation. The president still talks as if we still have CPA to protect or as if we are still part of North Sudan. When was the last time someone from the government tabled an official condemnation letter or official complaint before the United Nations about Khartoum’s bombing of areas in our sovereign nation? Even after 100 days, Khartoum is still bombing us at will with no consequences at all. We have many avenues to fight Khartoum now, not necessarily through war.
I’m therefore calling on everyone in South Sudan and abroad to join me in calling for the government to report back to the country on what has or has not been achieved as promised on July 9, 2011. We are entitled to that report at least. We need to remind the government, however incompetent and boot-licking the officials are, to know that they work for South Sudanese not President Kiir. We need a clear, structured, and intended solution to the security problem in the South and especially in Jonglei and Unity State…and the crippling effects of corruption.
Again, the government officials have to know that we are not only mindless young people drinking beer, eating Pepperoni Pizza and playing dominoes in foreign lands while writing what we can’t even explain. We’ll be the chroniclers of your historical and national contributions whether you like it or not.
Kuir ë Garang is a South Sudanese author and poet living in Calgary. For contacts or more about his writings, visit www.kuirthiy.info
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Tribal politics, compartmentalized hatred and the unchanging, education-proof youth: a response to I-read-one page revisionists
1. Respect for all Freedom Fighters!
The greatest threat to co-existence in any given society is the implicit, at times, glaring claim by a section of that given society that they are more important than others. What makes the claim monstrously dangerous is the denial that follows it. South Sudan is composed of people who stratify our society into tribal hierarchy with their tribe on top. This is a sentiment I despise to the last subatomic particle of my blood and breath.
Naath (Nuers) people think they are better fighters and better humans than all the tribes in South Sudan. Jieng (Dinkas) think they are better leaders and the champions of South Sudan freedom. Most tribes in Equatoria think they are better civilized than the unruly Jieng and Naath people. Such divisive sentimentalism is a cancerous societal cell that will eat into the core of any developmental efforts or any attempt to build a united South Sudan.
This article is a response to an article (Nasir Article) written by Manyok Chuol in response to my article published on South Sudan Nation website (My Article). The purpose of my article was to stress that incomprehensible issues happen in complex liberation struggles and that whatever we do should be geared towards reconciliation without forgetting the past. To understand 1991 split one should contact people like Bishop Paride Taban about reconciliation efforts from November of 1991 onwards or read documented evidence and stop assumption stirred by emotions.
I should add that Manyok Chuol is a good friend and a colleague I respect dearly. Same tribe, different political and social outlook! The response is not only to Mr. Chuol but his apologists.
Mr. Chuol wrote a scathing article whose purpose beats any peaceful logic. It’s one thing to criticize me, but it is another to criticize me in total disregard of the universal consequence of such insouciant writ. We all know the split of 1991 was a horrible incident; and what happened in Duk Padiet, Duk Payuel, Twi and Bor (Athooc and Gok) shouldn’t be excused as acceptable in terms of lives lost.
Read The Upper Nile Province Handbook: A Report of Peoples and Government in the Southern Sudan, 1931 by C. A. Willis (edited by Douglas H. Johnson).
My critic wrote:
These unintegrated and disillusioned former Anya nya I forces became Anya nya II. Unfortunately Anya nya II was not well organized force and did take the stature of a national liberation movement. For example, it did not have a strong unitary leader and lacked steady flow of recruits. The Anya nya II was not a strong and structured force capable of challenging the Sudanese Armed Forces militarily. However, it is important to note no one argues the SPLM/A started the long struggle for freedom in South Sudan nor can we claim the SPLM/A was a continuation of the Anya nya Movements.Such revisionists’ writings should be seen as contemptible and condemned by all oppressed people of South Sudan. Calling Anya Nya II fighters ‘disillusioned’ is to abuse the resilient spirit of any oppressed persons. It is also disrespectful to all South Sudanese. And remember, a freedom fighter is not motivated by the desire to succeed; she’s motivated by the oppression no matter the consequences. It is called self-less sacrifice.
Dr. John Garang could have made decent living as an excellent professor in any Ivy League university in the US. But he was ‘disillusioned’ by the Khartoum’s attitude towards the African person in Sudan. What should be applauded is the spirit to continue to challenge an oppressive system not that the force resisting the system is organized or strong. The presence of the remnants of Anya Nya I in the bush was a constant reminder that nothing has changed in Sudan. Any conscientious South Sudanese dare not disrespect these freedom fighters as insignificant and deserving of only marginal mention.
Dr. John Garang, in his interview with Arop Madut of Heritage on Monday, Nov., 2, 1987, acknowledged that “Anya Nya Two… was a genuine movement fighting for the separation of Southern Sudan.” The problem was that Anya Nya II due to failure of SPLM/A to win them over (as Garang acknowledged), let to Anya Nya II being used as a militia against SPLA/M and the southern cause.
To know that Anya-Nya II was not insignificant and disillusioned fighers, Garang said: “When I was at the General Headquarters in Khartoum, we used to be briefed about Bil Pam. The reports we had is that Gordon Koang had 7,000 strong, that Yagoub Ismail was with several thousand men at arms and Abdalla Zakaria had many thousands. So you can see the Anya Nya Two was already an existing movement before the birth of the SPLA.”
That is one freedom fighter acknowledging another freedom fighter. Are those my words? Let’s stop accusing people of being revisionists when we are distorting history to favour out parts:
To say that the "SPLA/M DID NOT initiate the process leading to freedom of South Sudan" is an astonishing capitulation and a victory to a more recent internet -based revisionist view that aims to reconstruct history.Ok, here is what Garang told Arop Madut in the same interview in 1987:
Our immediate task after we formed the SPLM/SPLA was to try to regroup the scattered fighting forces that we found, politicise them, win their confidence and make them organic to the SPLA. It is worth to note here that the Anya Nya Two was not only confined to Upper Nile. It was stronger in Bahr El Ghazal.That is what I meant by exceptionalizing the liberation struggle. Garang and his SPLA/M tried in good faith to make sure that all Anya Nya II forces both in Upper Nile and Bahr El Ghazal join SPLA/M for a conceited effort against our common enemy. The main contention was the objectives: unity (under a reformed, secular Sudan) verses complete separation of South Sudan.
So let’s read from the liberators themselves before we write what is on our minds that has nothing to do with what happened…or what we think happened because it favours our affective requirements. Ignoring the role played by Anya Nya II (which is acknowledged by Garang himself) is the very meaning of revisionism and distortion of history. The role I am talking about is telling Khartoum ‘it ain’t over!” Garang’s letter to Joseph Lagu in 1972 can tell us he knew ‘it ain’t over!’
2. 1991 Split and distortion of history
A good colleague of mine whom I respect dearly wrote on New Sudan Vision (NSV): “Here are some of the questions I am pondering on in the wake of the recent debate in which Nasir declaration is being legitimized (sic) as the political discourse that brought independence of South Sudan…”
If my colleague was responding to Dr. Lam Akol then I have nothing to say because I don’t know what Lam’s political intentions are and I don’t care what they are. However, if this is an indirect response to me then I should say that what I wrote about 1991 split is that the incident was a consequence (not a good one) of liberation struggle, and that, it has contributed (not initiated) to a changed mentality in SPLM/A. It’s a political discourse not the political discourse…that contributed to not brought South Sudan independence. This Malok Aleng acknowledges with critical diatribe in his book so I am not the only one claiming this.
And Mr. Chuol has this to say:
But it’s also in 1991 when a seismic political change occurred in form of collapse of the communist Soviet Union and the subsequent fall of Mengistu who was a strong SPLM/A benefactor. As Mengistu fell, the SPLM/A lost a reliable ally and military bases which precipitously put the Movement at greater perils. Besides, the refugee camps that logistically supported the Movement were also closed down. Therefore, the SPLM/A had lost considerable political, logistical and military support as a result of the events of 1991.
I didn’t just read this. This is not only a monstrously personal, and I mean personal, subjective coinage of extreme political favouritism, it is a destructive revisionism and distortion of history. It is the explanation of history in-the-way-I-want-it-to-be or in-the-way-I-think-it-happened.
Why did it take SPLA/M three years to realize they have lost such a base and logistical support? An organized movement would have convened a nation-wide convention immediately after the May of 1991 or several conventions between 1983 and 1991. That was a practical necessity. The April 1994 Chukudum convention was meant to institutionalize, restructure and liberalize SPLM, not take stock after the collapse of communism. Administrative structures were created and SPLA and SPLM were separated. This has no direct (maybe indirect) link with the collapse of communism and fall of Mengistu. NGOs also needed a structure to work under in the South but there wasn’t one. SRRA was weak.
The Nasir trio had outlined grievances against Garang ‘one-man, dictatorial’ leadership and the external and internal pressure to define New Sudan (which Garang did in April1994 convention).
It is hard to argue that the heartrending events of the1991 Nasir defection in which the SPLM/A lost a sizeable portion of its forces under the command of Dr. Riek Machar, Dr. Lam Akol and CDR Gordon Koang did not play a role in holding the 1994 Chukudum Convention.Even prominent people like Malok Aleng who was not only close to Garang but, also Garang’s uncle, will tell you that the ‘did not play a role in holding the 1994 Chukudum’ is wrong. Read the book: The Southern Sudan: struggle for liberty. Also read Øystein H. Rolandsen book (Guerilla government: political changes in the Southern Sudan in 1990s. Mr. Chuol continued:
That said, the harrowing Bor massacres were obviously well planned and coordinated by the Nasir leaders. The catastrophic expeditionary incursions into the Dinka villages continued on throughout the 1990s and nearly exterminated the Bor Dinka existence, leaving the community desolately destitute having their means of survival pillaged. Many who luckily survived these recurrent senseless incursions pitifully succumbed to an enabled endemic hunger and diseases.I am one of those who survived. My family came back to Wernyol from Itang through Akobo about two weeks before 1991 declaration. I know exactly what happened and I felt it. I had to head cattle for the first time in my life; a bad experience. I went for weeks without my family and they thought I was dead. I met them weeks later in Paliau: dirty, tired, hungry with shredded clothes. I went tired, hungry sick…beaten and bitten by crawling animals and I have scars to show.
Whoever wants to assume that they are the only people lamenting the split should remember that I experienced it first-hand. However, I don’t need such bad sentiment to negatively mark my life. I have to let go. If an opportunity comes for people to be held responsible, I have to act as a responsible adult and let the people of South Sudan decide the appropriate course of action given available evidence. I have to arrest my emotions for the benefit of South Sudan even when I don’t want to.
Note that the claim that the Nasir trio intentionally planned to kill innocent civilians doesn’t deserve any response. What deserves a response is that people died because of the consequences (misunderstanding by local Nuer) of trio’s intentions.
What is to be remembered is this:
- Only brainless atom would deny that people’s lives were destroyed in 1991 in Duk, Twi and Bor.
- Any writing has to both respect history but be of some benefit to South Sudanese. What Mr. Chuol wrote has nothing to do in terms of inter-tribal co-existence, or in terms of political reconciliation. It only stirs good sentiments and feel-good-ness in the incomprehensible ‘Bor community’ or ‘Greater Bor Community’.
- There are intentions and the consequences of intentions. An intention doesn’t always engender the desired consequence
- No one is anyone’s apologist, but we don’t have to condone hatred in the name of our tribes
- We should not assume things; let’s read history and present historical proofs
- Let’s not assume we know when we don’t know
- What Riek, Lam and Koang did in 1991 was a horrible decision, but any educated person shouldn’t buy into hatred and ignore the fact surrounding the management of SPLA/M from inception
- If the trio is to be legally held responsible in the future, I am for that as long as the court is not some tribally-inspired semblance of justice
- Assuming my tribal point of view is the right one and others’ is wrong should be left for the old-timers.
- There is no incident in history that can never have a better side except RAPE!
- Talks of nyagat and traitors is semi-illiteracy at best, and ignorance at worst
Writing what didn’t happen or justifying what happened using wrong subjectivist support is the very core of revisionism of hegemons. As much as I respect the idea of people’s points of view being respected, one has to remember that we are building a nation and whatever we say should always try to contribute towards peace and inter-tribal understanding. We have been scarred by history so maintaining unhelpful sentimentalism should be abhorred without forgetting the past.
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South Sudanese and Mr. President
South Sudanese
If you can’t accept that what happened in 1991 was the consequence of liberation struggle, then you need to be excused as a political patient. If you can’t accept that SPLM national convention of 1994 in Chukudum was a direct consequence of 1991 split, then I will be afraid of your contribution to the development of South Sudan. And people should be wary of you as South Sudanese.
And remember, everyone should lament deaths of innocent civilians. I lost my uncle and paternal grandmother (after whom I named my daughter,Atet) because of Riek’s and Lam’s childishness of 1991. However, these gentlemen didn’t part ways with Garang because they wanted to kill innocent Twi and Bor civilians of Jonglei. It was a political idea not well thought out and indeed…gone bad. I count my loss as part of the struggle. Without the problem in South Sudan then, there would be no reason for young Nuer men to come and kill people in Wernyol or Pawel at will or SPLA soldiers to kill innocent Gajak and Lou Nuer civilians.
We should also lament the killing of innocent Nuer civilians between 1983 and 1985/1986. We should also lament the killings of innocent Didinga civilians by irresponsible and disgruntled SPLA commanders. We should also lament the killing of innocent Toposa nomads in the assumed attempt to bring them in line. These are all realities any grown up and conscientious South Sudanese should acknowledge if we are to prosper as a united Country.
On the other hand, those who call late John Garang and his fellow liberation colleagues (such as Kiir, Wani, Kuol) murderous and not deserving credit for the freedom of South Sudan should be considerate and conscientious enough to be adult-minded. Yes, they carried out a lot of atrocious activities, but we should give them the respect they deserve as contributing liberators. Every educated critic should always present a balanced criticism. This is a mirror reflection of one’s personality and education value.This is the same thing that happened during South African liberation struggle were African National Congress (ANC) was assumed a Xhosa party because it was dominated by Mandela’s tribesmen.
Mr. President and the Cabinet
Whether we write from distant lands or inside South Sudan; tomorrow belongs to us as young people. That is a biological and natural given no one will (or can ever ) do anything about and that should be borne in mind. Whether you ignore what we say now as rumbling from foreign-minded clueless young idealists, then know that tomorrow, we’ll teach your legacy to the young ones the way you’ve passed through it. Our history is being distorted by opportunists; those who were supposed to be the very same elements to correct it. Some of these distorters were in the struggle and are prominent now in South Sudan.
We will write the correct history (not stories) and bring to shame anyone who would want to paint his/her picture crystal clean. Anyone who had done any atrocities in the past will be held accountable in history books if not in court of law. That will be my literary promise!
But what we need now is a clear path to resolve our developmental dilemmas. What I would like to request from you is to lead by example. Your cabinet wasn’t that bad. You rose above the ‘we are the liberators’ myopic prejudice. Congratulations!
Now, corruption is one of the ailments that will cripple our economy. It would be exemplary and appreciable leadership-wise to make sure you do the following:
· Publicly declare your assets so that the nation can know what you own and how you acquired it. There is a conspiratorial and unconfirmed document claiming you are among the ones who have embezzled millions of dollars. Clear you name through transparent declaration of wealth and how you acquired it. This will challenge your ministers and other officials to do the same.
in Europe and the Americas. This will assure South Sudanese that you are serious about
corruption. This will also warn your corruption prone ministers to straighten up. Stop talking and
start acting!
· Allocation of contracts shouldn’t be given to a single person but different not one committee to make sure corruption tendencies are frustrated along the way.
for the funds allocated to them.
· Corruption legislation should be passed and the commission leadership and members protected by order of parliament.
We have seen that a lot of pledges have been done but little is being implemented. Stop seeing us as young people to be ignored. We are the protectors of legacies tomorrow. Tomorrow will not be about ‘I said’, it will be about ‘I’ve done a lot and here’s the documented proof’. One day one time you will leave that office with the thought: “What have I done exactly?” There is nothing either you or your cabinet can do about the fact that the young will replace the current leadership in ten, twenty or thirty years’ time. This is a necessarily true fact that is inevitable. What you need to remember is your legacy. Ignore the young to your own detriment. Do not only think of the young who ignore the truth and kowtow to you because of possible job nods.
And Steve Jobs couldn’t have said it any better: “Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.”
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A nation of whiners: stop whining and start building your counties
I’ve come to dread the culture of superfluous and fortuitous whining based on one’s tribal allegiance or affiliation. This whining adds to the existential assumption that one’s societal stature depends on pride and protection of one’s tribe; and the dismal political misconception that being in the government is a compensatory gesture for one’s tribal contribution during the liberation struggle.
This stone-age-like mental and physical compartmentalization of our society should be given appreciable microscopic lenses to be comfortably perceived as worthy criticism. Who said having many ministers in the government makes for an A-list tribe?
And how does complaining based on one’s tribe foster one’s societal standing as an inclusive mind? We have many ministers hailing from Warrap state; however, we have local people from Warrap not satisfied by that very fact. They are now, supposedly, causing havoc in Unity State.
Why can’t they be satisfied with a good percentage of senior cabinet representations, powerful government appointments and the presidency? Why is there still intra-tribal fighting in Warrap state with good cabinet representation? Why are people dying of hunger in Warrap with good cabinet representation? Why is governor Nyandeng allowing a local member of parliament to be humiliated by the infamous security forces in a state that is supposed to be the happiest one? I think you get the point.
Being in the government offers nothing substantial to a given state, tribe or clan unless you look forward to nepotism and tribalism from your tribal minister. If Warrap is a mess, then who exactly is benefiting from the government? Individuals! Mere unscrupulous don’t-carers! Those who think you need to photocopy and send your degree to show that you’ve graduated. These don’t-carers don’t want to hear that to get rid of fake degrees; they have to call the registrars of the universities concerned to verify the authenticity of certificates in question. These don’t-carers think you have to take your degree to an embassy to be authenticated. How the hell can an embassy official know a degree is genuine?!
As much as I do understand that one owes one’s existence and personality development (to some extent) to one’s tribe, it’s high time South Sudanese started to see that too much focus on one’s tribal needs is the express lane to most of Africa’s frictional tribal nonsense and political instabilities. Sound advocacy on behalf of one’s tribe should be geared towards asking for developmental initiatives from the government through the elected representatives. Or better still, we should avoid using tribes and start using our counties as the building blocks of the starting nation.
I’d appreciate if people started to ask for many members of parliament for their counties than asking for many cabinet positions which have little if not nothing to engender a specific community. Industrious and honest members of parliament (who we don’t have) are good catalysts for development. They honestly and effectively represent their constituencies and get funding for reconstruction or construction initiatives. We should start asking our MPs what they’ve done with the money the government allocates for development in various constituencies rather than complaining about tribally useless government positions. Many MPs means many voices for development for a given county and possibly more money for development in the counties and by extension, in the state.
These are the times we should use our minds and education to advocate for development in a manner that reflects what people should know about our intellective reach. It is high time we should understand that whining in the name of absurd, perplexing and inconceivable conglomerate of tribes and tribal feel-good concoctions is insurmountably counterproductive.
Complain about corruption, complain about security, complain about food prices, complain about land grabbing, complain about nepotism generally speaking, and stop whining about government appointments. We’ve been turned into a nation of whiners that takes its obsession for advocacy and their words for criticism.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Euphoria, independent South Sudan and brooking of corruption
Shame on Sudanese leaders and elders in Calgary