Stop misleading the public: Creation of more states and counties is not one of the problems of South Sudan
7 min readBy Daniel Juol Nhomngek, Kampala, Uganda
October 3, 2016 (SSB) —- The problems of South Sudan is due to the failure to provide essential services such as road networks, health facilities, security, and education which is caused by rampant corruption. Corruption is caused by the way we perceive the government. Most of us view the government as the shared project which everyone and his or her family or relatives view as an entitlement and as a result, use resources as of right which makes the role of accountability in governance minimal.
The statement in the above paragraph is supported by the fact that majority of South Sudanese whose family member in the government adheres to the principles of accountability and transparency is attacked as being means and shunned. Since the democracy is introduced in South Sudan many politicians working in the government misappropriate government resources to sustain friends and large family members because if they fail to do that they may lose the election.
Moreover, creation of few states in South Sudan has given an opportunity to corruption as many rural people are not closer to the government and be able to hold the government accountable. Because of that essential services as stated in the paragraph one of this work do not reach people.
Thus, the rural people sink deeper and deeper into insecurity caused by poverty, which in turn caused by the lack of services and lack of providence of essential services cause tension and tribal conflicts and at the same time facilitate it.
Unfortunately, when the conflicts occur either among the tribes or at the national level we turn around and accuse the government for failing yet we have not examined our consciences and contributions to such conflicts.
What is even funny is that many people continue to point at the president and government officials yet they were the ones who corrupted them in the first place.
Above all, the underlining factor is that most of the people have not received proper education that helps them to analyze things within the context as the so-called educated lack skills of critically and objectively analyzing things, had they had such skills, they would have realized that creation of more states and counties is not part of the problems of South Sudan rather it is a solution to the prevailing social, cultural and economic problems we see in the country today.
In my opinion, the government of South Sudan should be applauded for the good move to create more states and counties instead of misleading the public that the president of South Sudan is ethnicizing and tribalizing the country.
What most of the people who argue against the creation of more states and counties fail to understand is that South Sudan is a State comprised of various nationalities who nurture historical hatred that was manufactured by the North for its own benefits.
The best thing to do, is therefore, to admit that South Sudan is faced with ethnic and identity struggle which is must be handled with care.
The phrase handling the condition of South Sudan with care means leaving ethnicities in their natural setting by creating more states and counties for each tribes or tribes who are compatible. And at the same time the government comes up with a long term plan of creating trust among these tribal groups who had deep rooted hatred.
In doing that the major aim should be to ensure national cohesion and unity in long run. Thus, the creation of more states should be viewed as historical incident that will have positive implications on South Sudanese development in future.
In my understanding, South Sudanese unity had fallen apart under ten states policy as ten states isolated and put majority of the rural people at the periphery of the economic development and government essential services.
The failure of the people to appreciate the creation of twenty eight (28) States comes from the fact that people look at the nation building terms of what they get out of it in short term.
Thus, looking at the creation of new states and counties in term of money and employment is a source of problems because when their creation does not materialize in short term as they expected, then, they turn around and criticize the government not because the government has done bad thing for creating more states and counties but because the creation of these states has not met their expectations of getting quick and easy money.
This myopic way of perceiving things by the majority of South Sudanese constitutes a fundamental root cause of South Sudanese problems. In South Sudan, there is no any difference between educated and uneducated ones. In reality, educated individuals are even worse than those who have never gone to school for a simple reason.
Those who consider themselves to be highly educated are not when it comes to analysis of things as they always fall short of academic shrewdness and critical analysis as expected from the members of academic community, which they claim to be part.
Thus, they do not analyze things based on long term benefits but they look at things in the eyes of gain, which is full of self-interest. This explains the root cause of South Sudanese war and because of that there is likelihood that South Sudan may remain conflict ridden for long.
The above analysis can be supported by the fact that in current war many South Sudanese keep on finger pointing and blaming each other without examining their own consciences as to how they might also have been responsible for the outbreak of war in one way or the other.
As we continue to blame each other, looking at solutions as part of the problems because of subjective way of analyzing things and fail to acknowledge the fact that we are partly to blame and also we can bring peace by making compromises, South Sudan and her people continue to sink deeper and deeper into endless sufferings and deaths.
In fact, South Sudan is already sapped by diseases, burdened by a traumatic past and failing to get to grips with the economic and technological revolutions that are reshaping the world as a result of globalization.
As a result, the country seems to be or has slipped out of the control of political leaders who claim to govern it, and beyond the reach of international institutions that seek to rescue it.
Connected to the above paragraph is the fact that South Sudan is suffering from multiple crises of economic, ecological, social and political. This is because as the war goes on billions of dollars in public funds continue to be stashed away by some leaders.
Hence, stealing of money from the country treasury has led to the crumbling of roads, health systems have failed, schoolchildren have neither books nor desks nor teachers, and telephones do not work.
Apart from sufferings and deaths, stealing of money has also caused abject poverty that make South Sudan more vulnerable to war and disease and in turn war and disease constantly thwart South Sudan’s efforts to make peace and to lift itself out of poverty.
In summary, based on the foregoing arguments, it is, therefore, important to clearly state that creation of more states and counties is not the problem of South Sudan nor is it bad but rather it is a solution to the conflict.
Creation of twenty states and counties may bring long term benefits to the people of South Sudan and rejuvenate the spirit of national unity and nationalism that was destroyed by the corruption in South Sudan.
National unity is not achieved through putting people together like animals where there is no strong government with vision to protect the interest of every individual member within. People love the country not because it is a country but because the country protects their interests and welfare.
NB//The author is the South Sudanese human rights lawyer and can be reached through: +256783579256; or juoldaniel@yahoo.com
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