Barnaba Marial Benjamin’s political gaffe that cost him his ministerial position
3 min readBy Ring Mayar, Canberra, Australia
March 24, 2016 (SSB) —- Barnaba Marial’s hegemonic grip on South Sudan Foreign Affairs has confounded nearly every political professional. But it is doubly vexing confrontation with Deng Alor brought him down by infamous gaffe. Many South Sudanese scrambled on social media trying to make sense of it all.
Barnaba Marial was the most renowned and well known South Sudan Foreign Affairs Minister, who became own political victim, suddenly and infamously, after his short circuited meeting in office in Juba, while denouncing Deng Alor’s South Sudan citizenship and heritage linkage to South Sudan. Marial took foxier tactic tact in response to his political embarrassment when confronted by the media in Juba. Marial was leery to even look down the rabbit hole when asked by journalists.
The cunning recovery operation began in the earnest right after the news broke out on social media. Marial showed up in the spin room, insisting his error was stylistic, not substantive. He and his oversize bodyguards promptly beelined to Nile Hotel boulevard, where Marial always make his political business, finishing the evening with self-effacing appearance SSTV blaming the gaffe on Abyei Citizens.
The decree to relief Barnaba Benjamin was timely warrant and right thing to do to comfort the over-shocked Abyei people. This is how seriously the President has responded to such unthoughtful gaffe which strip Abyei and its people South Sudanese citizenship. South Sudanese politicians now should learn and evaluate their behaviour with the whole new way looking at the consequences of political gaffe, its curs and ultimately its future.
Has Marial merely relinquished Abyei to Khartoum, or has he stripped Dinka Ngok their rightful South Sudanese citizenship? South Sudanese people are waiting to find out soon from South Sudan President.
Usually, in some situations where politicians become more egocentric to use political gaffes to bypass political opponents that become ‘character flaws’…[But] being a Foreign Minister Marial is seem like the government is going to him to apologise to Ngok people or Marial himself is not in a position to say sorry to Ngok people.
South Sudan is embroiled and marred with ignominious political gaffes, corruptions, and rebellions since independent of South Sudan from Sudan – with some politicians seriously implicated in criminal cases which ostensibly sunk the country into abyss of out-spiral civil war or hardened warring parties to cling to guns to solve problems, instead of political dialogues.
While each of these criminal cases differed on the scale of wrong committed against the public, it seems fair for the government to absorb these incompetent former government officials into government with ministerial portfolios in government. Marial dismissal is any different paled in comparison to Marial’s yesterday blunder. He will be back in government with another high portfolio, the government only need to marry a gaffe with an egotist response.
Ultimately, the government may have different views, the gaffe could be considered almost as entirely a media conceit, and even some may media outlets find Marial unfortunate gaffe problematic.
Ring Mayar is an ordinary South Sudanese citizen. He can be reached via the following email: naydiet@yahoo.com.au
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