The Rust of Words ( a Novel )
By David Aoloch Bion
Chapter Four
The government was functioning, operational at all levels – the Servancy, the Law making, the services delivery and the courts of law. . This new, created administration had programs, priorities, tasks to do like construction of public premises, cars for mobility. The Council of Servants authorized the procuring of official cars.
The state approved seventy two million dollars for the purchase and supply of cars. The finance released the money to company to buy and procure the car abroad. In two months time, the Toyota land cruiser cars arrived. All public servants were excited with cars. In the noon, the skyline of Napata city was covered with smoke of dust. There was no tarmac road.
The company which procured the cars submitted receipts to Finance. It was forwarded to James Majok. He read it. He uncovered a fraud in the contract. He told the Servant that something went wrong. The Servant ignored it. He didn’t look into the report.
One year on, the lawmakers summoned the Servant to present the report of how he spent the seventy two million dollars on cars . He said “One Toyota land cruiser balloon cost ninety thousand dollars and one land cruiser pick up cost fifty thousand dollars”.
The report was doubted and questioned by most legislators. They sent a committee to Dubai to find out, how much each car cost. The committee went , found that balloon car is “forty five thousand dollars, the pickup car is twenty five thousand dollars”
The Director of the company that procured the cars was arrested. During the investigation , he told the interrogators that, the Servant in Charge of Finance instructed him to falsify the receipts. In response to the scandal the Chief Servant lifted the immunity of the Servant . He was detained by the police. During questioning he denied that the wrongdoing, he said , he had not instructed the Director to falsify the receipts . The director produced the secret tape of their conversation, the excerpt as follow;
“How much is the Toyota land cruiser balloon car?” asked the Servant
“It is forty-five thousand dollars” answered the Director
“What about the pickup car?”
“It is twenty-five thousand dollars”
“You buy hundred balloon cars and seventy pick up cars”
“All right”
“After you have bought them, you double price of each car. For example, the balloon is forty-five, you write ninety thousand Dollars in the receipt. Then pick up is twenty five, you write fifty thousand Dollars in the receipts”.
“Will it not bring a problem?” asked the Director of the company
“It won’t”
“My company is international, clean company, I fear to involve in such illegal dealings ”
“What are you talking? I will give you three million as your commission, you are in Sudd space , you are not in international space Aren’t you ?”
“Thank you”
“We are going to eat the nation while it is still innocent, unconscious, unenlightened”, the Servant said inwardly. End of the tape.
The Servant was detained at in prison in the centre of the city. His tribe men, relatives, family members stormed the prison, demanding his release. At the prison , warden refused, blocked the mob from entering the compound . They went back, came with clubs and pangas. In the placard , they wrote ‘’ Release OUR EYE IN OVERMENT . We had fought for the freedom of this country in the twenty one year civil war and we are still the one protecting the government.’’
They prisoner Director called the Chief Servant through the telephone to inform him of what is happening . The Chief Servant told him to give the phone to one of the protesters.
“Who is this?” the Chief asked
“I am tribesman of Servant in Chief of Finance ”
“What are you saying ?”
“We want our man release now”
“Don’t say, we want our man release, say, I , Mr.… I want him released” the Chief said, “Give the phone to back to director”, he added
“Hello, Chief ” greeted the Director .
“Don’t release him, Let one person name himself to take the responsibility and you release him. If it is the whole tribe, don’t release”
Unfortunately, the director was so indecisive, weak, he released the Servant. . This was the beginning of impunity culture and highest manifestation of weak institutions in the country. It was epitome of government vulnerable to tribalism . This became the precedent leading to the webs of unpunished crimes .
The Rust of Words is the story of reforms and transformation from bad governance to good governance in the Republic of Sudd. It is the story of poet James Majok , who inspired 2nd Uncle , the Chief Servant of the Republic , to reform and transform his corrupted, dysfunctional system of governance.
Billions of dollars from oil revenues were stolen by 75 servants from public funds in the period of six years.
As the result of such embezzlement of fund, there were no roads, schools, hospitals across the country. Worse of all the country imported food from neighbouring countries.
An inspiration of reform comes to Chief Servant, when Majok reads the poem on the 7th anniversary of independence. The poem indicted the Chief and his Administration
In his response to the poem, the Chief begins the needed reforms. In the series of reforms, the corrupt Servants in the government were arrested, tried and executed for corruption.
The Chief justified his action by saying he was following what is written in the book, a book which was not seen by anyone since it publication but he harangues that every citizen must read it.
In order to purified the rusted thought of the people. He formed a committee of 600 intellectuals, led by the state Philosopher Peter Gatluak, to modify the language in order to perfect the thought; they invent new words to purify the language in order to purify the thought of the people. Many rusted words in the language were destroyed.
70 years later, after the radical reforms, the society becomes just, prosperous. There was no man or woman committing a crime,
In celebrating hundred anniversary of the Reformation, the Republic abolished department of police and the faculties of Law at all Universities across the country because law and police become irrelevant in the just society.
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