Mixed reactions, South Sudan dwindling status, uncle jobs!
7 min readMy experience on the Streets, do not take it personal!
By Sunday de John, Nairobi, Kenya
December 10, 2015 (SSB) —- Those who hate hearing the truth must close their ears, those who hate reading the truth should as well remove their reading classes or must avoid reading this piece at all. Those who cherish corruption on all its forms should avoid this for it may cause headache.
This is Street Sweeper speaking, a self-employed cleaner on Juba streets. Although dusty, the street sweeping job is the only job on offer and I picked it because I have no options but to patriotically serve my beloved country.
In Juba like anywhere in South Sudan, it is true that jobs are given through uncles, by uncles, and perhaps sometimes by in-laws but not on merit or qualifications. It is for that reason that many well-connected youngsters have made it to get jobs that they do not deserve.
For me, the story is different, it is unfortunate, very unfortunate indeed because my uncles claim nationalism, merit-based job offerings, sincerity devoid of corruption and hence have never thought of offering me a job, they only allowed me to take any job on offer.
Therefore, I picked to Sweep Streets and sniff dust in fulfillment of my job as once mentioned to be the verge I must be pinned to as what I deserve per our country’s interest of employing the quantitatively least qualified job seekers and rejecting the qualified ones just like Makur Madit and many others languish on the streets of Juba with potential degrees that can change the country.
However, for job security purposes, the one I picked is the one I should strictly hold onto because options are minimal and failing to hold on one’s job means losing it at all.
Whether, I can meet the job description or not shouldn’t bother you, notably I have many qualifications that can give me any job including working as President’s press secretary, Chief-editor, office manager in any office and many other great titles like director, liaison officer, diplomat, nurse, teacher, state government’s Secretary General and even as a constitutional post holder why not. Of course, this is anonymous cry, not Sunday de John’s.
Confining a person to his profession isn’t worthy per South Sudan’s arrangement because Professionals like doctors, Engineers, lawyers accountants, and etc earn peanuts meanwhile office managers and personal assistants of the sully politicians earn half of a state budget just by manipulating the concern politician, or by hiding payment document of a contractor for later personal gain, or by asking for lump sums as kickbacks!
The spirit of kickbacks is so rampant and rapid that debatably, it is killing the national coherence economically. This is just a description of a system and do not take it personal or take it at your own risk.
With the situation not improving in my beloved country, I however, remain dreaming of getting big things, real big achievements including getting more ranks in the army. Of course, this is as a consequence of rampant corruption being practiced by concern authorities and note that authority with supervision isn’t corrupt but absolute authority is and the case of South Sudan is pertinently outstanding. Corruption everywhere including in IOs and FDS camps and that is why Angelina Teny takes everything.
Don’t blame those seeking means of becoming corrupt, for it is true that even sons and daughters of generals get ranked and posted abroad without having been trained militarily, because training per our current standards unlike our previous state is a process that should be underwent by the weak, those not connected, sons and daughters of common men, those that have no backing perhaps those that must go to war and die without pensions. Senior army officials were hiding their children during 21 years of the SPLA struggle.
The children of leaders where kept away from war for safety and sons of peasants were asked to take up arms on forceful recruitment just to fulfill the Liberation goal. Now, the reverse is true, sons of Generals are getting ranks without going for training and most peasants’ children are being declared unfit even for training. Who is cheating who?
Being ranked nowadays is a story of its own. Alas, my dreams like those of many other young men of our generation are withering, they are truly dying off, if a general is dead, his worth ceases, and therefore a son of dead general like father is worthless.
In actual sense, one can attest without failure that since the likes of Pedal went to dreamlands, their worthiness to the country was buried with them. Just to give a very recent example, Abraham Jongror Deng has died and therefore his worth too is no more following his demise near Pariak.
In short, this fact is clear: children of dead army personnel, be they children of Generals, Colonels, Non-commissioned officers, and men are as worthless as their dead fathers are, they deserve nothing but sufferings.
In addition, but shamelessly, few selected commanders perhaps because they have committed crimes of not threatening the system, the likes of Gen. Garang Mabil and many others have been intentionally trashed because they can’t call upon youth to destabilize the country like Yau-Yau did in massacring innocent Bor and Lou Nuer citizens.
It seems, murderers get it all and it is like our system rewards wrong deeds and punish the best deeds that is why old commanders who helped shaped the movement have been categorically neglected because what they did was good so they should be isolated without what to eat as a punishment.
Other senior militants just to maximise my findings, for example, Commander Paul Dor, and many others have gone to retirement with no benefits just because that is the best way since they aren’t notorious like Gatdet or Taban Deng Gai.
So, as I do my job, I see a lot of heartrending atrocious crimes being committed along the streets, other common minor affronts ranging from harassment of traffic police offers by senior commanders either of the army or police or even by plain government officials especially those that drive GOSS vehicles, harassment of pedestrians by those that drive posh vehicles is not uncommon and unwarranted beating of civilians by some least informed uniform men is a norm or nearly so.
I have seen many despicable offenses hurled on innocent victims including a purported show of strength by indiscipline soldiers that have no idea about the goodness of our army’s Act. A good soldier is that soldier that does not show citizens his might by beating them. Instead, a good one is known to be mighty only by keeping harm away from citizens for example by defending the territorial integrity from external aggressors.
As a matter of truth, and on many occasions I have been victimised, my job although dismal has been perceived as an alarm to the men/women of justice if they ever exist that people that deserve being employed are on the streets.
On this occasion, forcing me to shun my job is brewing as rumormongers of my society have alleged. Indeed, rumormongers of my society sniff information and they sometimes carry around facts in form of rumors so I must secure my job despite lack of competitors.
Of course, these are just nicks in our system and deadly ones aren’t worth revealing for they would be like horror movies. Our country has been bad and is getting worse. This is because corruption has cracked it at the core and it is expediently holding not much as cohesion has melted, solidarity dissolved and even intratribal cohesion is at stake.
The fictional desire to keep South Sudan together is an unachievable theory, wealth has been looted by only but few luck stricken individuals and even the claimed most powerful sectors are loosely binding. Division amongst Nuer is apparent, that of Dinka is unsalvageable, the Equatorian one is dissatisfyingly withering and so does that of minorities like Shilluk, Anuak, etc.
Who is to blame? It isn’t Salva Kiir, it isn’t Riek Machar and cohorts, it isn’t former detainees, rather it is the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s leadership and hence the three categories are to blame for choosing to be kleptocrats than being leaders.
It is painful, heroes of yesterday are become zeros of today. Much less effective, the blame game, resources are what the later categories have used to simply belittle the former.
The later groups have cunningly made their crime billable by pushing the former into what they thought was dirty waters and the former opted to refuse falling into a pit by holding all to itself by gravitation.
I am about to say it all but I think this serves the day. Till then, yours truly Mr. Teetotaler!
You can reach the author, Sunday de John, via his email: emmajoson@yahoo.com
The opinion expressed here is solely the view of the writer. The veracity of any claim made are the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers (SSB) website. If you want to submit an opinion article or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. SSB do reserve the right to edit material before publication. Please include your full name, email address and the country you are writing from.
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