Politics in South Sudan is fundamentally about unpolished egotism And there is no candid Politician in the country.
7 min readBy Daniel Machar Dhieu, Juba, South Sudan
February 1, 2016 (SSB) — If you are in this nation and you have not done research before, try and do it right away. Get yourself a copy of South Sudanese newspaper sold at the street of Juba. Go through its pages to find out how many people were described in that particular edition as believable politicians or honest and selfless South Sudanese. You would be surprised to see the number of people that thoughtlessly allowed to be allied with such wonderful qualities even when they are fully aware that by what most people know about their character and evil history, it might even be considered a generous compliment to dress them up in the very opposites of those terms.
Indeed, these are some of the language and phrases that have been so heartlessly and horribly subjected to the worst kinds of abuses in South Sudan with hardly anyone making any attempt to intervene. I won’t in the least, therefore, be surprised if I wake up tomorrow to hear that decent people in this country have begun to protest and resist any attempt to link them with those terms any more. In these parts, we appear to be such exceptional experts in the effective devaluation of all that ought to motivate awe and noble feelings. I can confidently predict that there are now some South Sudanese who would, for instance, feel greatly insulted should their dogs be nominated for our country’s National Honours. Especially, since the current government of President Salva Kiir, the National Honours List in this country has sadly distinguished itself by the ease with which people that ought to be in jail star prominently in it.
And as you look at the exhausted or even dilapidated and grossly impoverished nature of a country with a long list of illustrious and honest sons and daughters annually honoured for their selfless and invaluable services to their fatherland, you cannot help wondering how indeed their so-called immense contributions to the growth and progress of the their country were not able to leave some small piece of positive impact on the same country and its people. Why is a country with such a long and intimidating list of patriotic achievers and nation builders still one of the most backward in the region despite being endowed with enviably abundant natural resources?
Many South Sudanese, especially, politicians, do not care about the credibility of their statement before they open their mouths to drop them, especially, before huge crowds. It is in South Sudan that a very big man would not have the slightest clue of restraint telling everyone how incredibly short he is without bothering about the evidence before everybody’s eyes which brutally contradicts what he is saying. We live in a country where consequences hardly follow actions, so, people everywhere flaunt their ability to behave anyhow and make wild claims with utmost impunity.
In South Sudan, anybody can suddenly become an esteemed and respected anti-corruption campaigner. Even if you have a very horrible criminal past record, it would not matter. Somebody once boasted to me that the only way to effect lasting, positive change in South Sudan is to become a public officer, acquire boundless wealth by prowling the treasury pale, and then with your enormous loot, seek to sanitize the system. Moreover, South Sudanese are always interested in the present. The same people who had called you horrible names while you were busy criminally accumulating humongous wealth would start hailing you once you start attacking the incumbent authority. Soon, you will be crowned an eminent statesman or even the conscience of the nation, celebrated by all.
South Sudan may, possibly, be one of the few countries where a man who once, as the head of an anti-graft agency, investigated some public officers for looting the public treasury, told the world how horribly corrupt they were, and even charged some to court could turn around to collaborate with the same set of people in the same party to seek power. And such a man would not even feel any shame or sense of self-diminishment as he mounts the stage to tell the same audience that the men were our new messiahs, the most credible politicians in town. How human beings are able to do this without doing untold damage to themselves remain a horrendous mystery? And because this is able to continue to happening is the core reason South Sudan goes nowhere and might remain stuck at a place for a long time to come.
Now, to say that politics in South Sudan is largely about crude self-interests is merely to state something that has since become all too obvious even to the worst hare-brained fellow out there. It is difficult to see today a South Sudanese who is seeking public office whose eyes are not solely glued to the amount of money he is intending to cart away and the influence he is itching to peddle once he assumes office. But what is most heart-shattering is that there’s hardly any adult who is yet to come to a full realization of this brazen fact; yet this same South Sudanese still willingly and eagerly submit themselves as very cheap preys to the crude, unintelligent lies by these politicians that they are in politics to seek their welfare.
Now the matter would not have been so hideous if our elected leaders were content to make organise with their already outrageously inflated salaries and allowances. No! They will also massively and heartlessly loot the public treasury under their watch and cart away millions and billions of South Sudan pounds with utmost impunity to ensure that long after they have left office and become professional idlers, they would continue to wallow in limitless luxury serviced with mounds and pyramids of unearned wealth.
But instead of the people from whom they shamelessly stole all money to feel outraged and rejoice at any opportunity to make them face the consequences of their crude thievery, they would go out of their ways and take additional pains to defend and offer them support in their well-earned travails. Not a few would engage in verbal and even physical battles and might end up even wasting their lives to defend and support the right of these public officers to loot the treasury pale. Yet, deep down their hearts, they are fully aware that many of these officers are no better than common thieves out there.
One evening, I went to a nearby kiosk to make a purchase, and there, I saw two young men who, judging by their exhausted appearance, should belong to the lowest rung of the country’s social and economic situation the worst victims of the programme of destitution that successive thieving politicians have unleashed on this country. As one of the young men expressed outrage at such mindless stealing by the former governor, the other one barked at him: “go back to your state and talk about the stealing taking place there and leave our state alone. It is our money that was stolen and it does not concern you! Just shut your mouth, we are okay with that.” It was difficult to comprehend what I had just heard, but the fellow was dead serious repeating the same words to the other young man, becoming angrier as he spoke and showing clearly that he could initiate a physical fight if the other fellow continued to discuss the matter that “did not concern” him. With people who reason like this fellow abundantly existing across our country, why should any thieving public officer ever think of exercising any restraint?
Now, when our leaders publicise their resolution to fight corruption, they usually have in mind some particular corrupt people they are targeting. And while they go all out with unwarranted fanfare to arrest and prosecute them, they surround themselves with even more horribly corrupt fellows unrepentant criminals who are still neck deep in their vile but very profitable career of criminal accumulation, even when they under national constitutions.
Indeed, what is very difficult to deny is that when we shout against corruption and the need to punish those involved in it, we, like our leaders, always have a set of people in our minds. We will try to dig up reasons why we think they are rather being persecuted. And politicians always take full advantage of this to shield themselves from the just consequences of their shameless burglary by exploding some fire among us with two prominent inflammable substances, namely, Religion and Ethnicity. But when they gather to steal the nation blind, they do not consider these two intoxicants.
The writer is the Student at the South Sudan Christian University, Juba South Sudan.You can reach me through Email: machardhieu@gmail.com
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