Dear our leaders: An open letter to the 14 new commissioners of Jonglei State
8 min readBy David Matiop Gai, Juba, South Sudan
September 18, 2016 (SSB) —- Dear Jonglei state commissioners, congratulations to you all for winning ultimate conscience of our communities, and being the first commissioners of the new established counties of Jonglei state in Greater Bor community. It is my pleasure to acknowledge this decision which was made by the state authorities as well as sons and daughters of our historic state of Jonglei.
As (we) the present generations of new technocrats and advance technology and development, we have seen developmental paradigm shift in our modern world being affected by ideologies of possible crisis, war/conflicts, upraising /revolutions, and kind of political shifts in divisions, hatred, selfishness, tribal mongers, trouble makers, thieves, robbers, corruptists, and amongst others as we know it very well that these issues also had negative impacts in Greater Bor Community, (GBC) for example Bor Community has been the battle field for Dr. Riek Machar forces for almost decades with the foremost intention to eliminate the community from the surface of South Sudan at its geographical area which I think and believed would not happened as his political ambition is concern.
With all these wars, and conflicts toward Bor community, the ancestral wealth and area development of Greater Bor community in all families was devastated and public peace in the area was too deteriorated for so long. Of course Bor wealth was destroyed in the first war in 1991 when SPLA/M split. The estimated 60,000 head of cattle and properties were looted by white army forces of Riek Machar, and citizens were diminished in two ways whereas Dr. Riek tried to weaken Dr. John Garang politically by attacking Garang’s home, 10, 000 thousands people were gunned down during 14 days fighting inside Bor, while 25,000 thousands died later on as result hunger and diseases because their resources were looted.
After short interim periods of CPA for six (6 years), the community tried to gain social and community development, and people try to regain personal properties back to their right foundations, the same elements sponsored by Riek Machar disturbed the community, and we lost many things in the process as communities in former greater Jonglei State were engaged in an intercommunal fighting among Nuer, Murle, and Bor.
Briefly as you also know how we lost riches and development in our community, we were again becoming victims of the 15 Dec 2013, and Greater Bor Community once again lost everything while the area is completely destroyed from its existence. The civilian were brutally killed, women were raped inside Lieudiet cathedral, and after all the sticks were forcefully put in women through sexual organs.
Therefore, we have lost everything in silence, and our community now days has a great number of orphans, and widows facing severe consequences of human trafficking which were the world old problems in 17th -19th centuries and at the same time the community was under going through slave trade, a long time business forgotten by the modern world as being exercises by Murle community and Murle as a community is almost 90% of the adapted slave trade children from Bor Community and neighbours.
The 14 counties according to Bor community members, some strong agreed on the formation, and others disagree, but that is not my concern because people views, opinions, plans, and objectives are not the same. The fear some people bear in mind is not what other may have. Some people are seriously questioning population sizes, geographical locations, and the budget allocation for counties. For example people calculate 14 V8s for commissioners, their salaries, salaries of executive directors, counties commissions, workers in counties, and so forth. For me as ordinary citizen, I don’t dream less, I have a positive determination of self-ability, that we are able.
The first agenda we have to do is addressing challenges of insecurity in the area. The next step is to form committees for resources utilization in counties to look after counties resources, resources mobilization, collection, redistribution and allocation. The third step after winning the assurance and let people know money will not goes into somebody pocket, then in each and every county should rise funds to build hospital, police station, commissioner houses.
The fourth step, government budget should be use for construction and connection of roads among the counties. And the fifth step is to repatriate people to their ancestral lands, and resettle. Believe me or not, the Greater Community population in exile is much big than the number which is in the place of their origin. This is now commissioners’ responsibility to make sure that our population is secure, and to repay the doubt of some of our community members who think Greater Bor Community is not fit for 14 counties or more.
In my article about additional ten new counties of Jonglei state to the existing three counties of farmer Bor County, Twice East County, and Duken County, I defined and defend the proposal of new counties depending on geographical areas, wealth, human resources/capital, number of educated sons and daughters of Greater Bor Community and accesses to new development in the new counties would have answer doubt rise by some members of our community. We have resources which are not functioning now but still will help us in the future, so we can’t wait to mobilize resources in order to create counties, the choice made is right.
In our African traditions, there is nobody who can stop you from producing more children although you maybe a poor man. In our case it is simple; we have oil in three areas: Malualagorbaar, Jallee, and Akeer and the percentage allocated to us will development our constituencies. We have domestic and wild animals and fisheries but all together will benefit the community in social development of these counties.
Honourable Commissioners, I was suggested that the tools for democracy which were already in mind of our community are still holding you accountable because this government structure now is too platform for freelancers as government eye needle whereby you go corrupt, we easily find you, for the two communities in the county will watch consciously on every commissioner, or I intended to say maybe if you were applying and stand on the pulpits in our front as citizens, and we attend public hearing.
Or we listen from you the kinds and types of your plans about the community, plans about insecurity in the area, plans of social development, strategies of new counties, access to local development, hospitals, schools, and how you will mobilize resources, and allocate them in those developments, how you may convince us and win our actions into your success would have affix the right foundation of local government in those new counties in Jonglei state, and we may judge you either successfully or failures follows you.
The vision, and dream of Dr. John Garang of “taking towns to people” has becomes a song all over South Sudan. It is a beating of a drum louder than people dancing it. The flavour of taking towns closer to people has sweet tasting anymore. I want to see it from you now. I shouldn’t creaming it but the vision was a small rural towns to containing excesses of big towns in rural areas to sustain grass root levels, that whatever which is in Juba should be available in Bomas, such as internet, education, dresses, sugar, hotels, transports, hospitals, good roads, etc.
Dr. John Garang who studied in America, and also travelled in many part of the world have seen the importance of small towns in villages, and he was trying to incorporated the idea in South Sudan to avoided certain disadvantages cause by towns. He was trying to keep us try hard and press on in development of our own state by fixing collective efforts on social development. Before his graduation, he emphasizes too much agriculture as an accelerating tool for South Sudan development.
But with these counties in place, some commissioners within you and some counties will be failed counties because some of you will sit in hotels enjoying county small budget and hand tiddly fall off and waiting for the government to provide essential unseen resources, but others among you who are capable and clever enough will use little they may have to build those counties. We all know who is an old man call government to provide everything in our houses and people shouldn’t work? Dr. John stated that, “weak people represent weak government, and strong people represent strong government.
Therefore, the most powerful governments in the world are not superpower governments of the Western countries or developed nations, but the most powerful governments and the citizens are the people who turn challenges, negatives, and critics into positive ideas, and build something from nothing.
I eventually encouraging commissioners of new counties, and the government of Jonglei state, and the entire citizens to exercise “we or us” rightfully for their citizenship to create a conducive environment of Jonglei state counties , a beautiful and attractive birth rights for all by making it home of changes and development.
God bless South Sudan.
The author is a co-founder of National Mental Health Care Organization (NMHCO); He holds Bachelor degree in Social Work and Social Administration from SSCUST, Bachelor of Theology from CLT, Bungoma, Kenya/Kalispell, USA, and a fellow researcher. He can be reach at tonggaid551@yahoo.com/davidmatiopgai@gmail.com.
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