South Sudanese are Aliens in their own Land! (Part 1)
13 min readBy Ayuel Madut Chan, Nairobi, Kenya
February 3, 2017 (SSB) — My dear fellow countrymen and women of South Sudan, allow me to share my mind with you on the events folding in our country. If I were to be one of advisors to President Kiir Mayardit, I would advise him and his government to do the followings:
- Make South Sudan for South Sudanese by protecting our jobs and opportunities;
Mr. President, our country is under broad day robbery by foreigners but in a smart way. We are like idiots in our own land Mr. President, where on earth will good opportunities for nationals be surrendered to foreigners?
First, these foreigners came as investors to do business with South Sudan with intention of making profits for themselves as well as creating jobs and development in South Sudan. This is not bad Mr. President for we need investors so dearly. These so called investors open hotels and restaurants in South Sudan and only qualified people to work as cooks, waiters, cleaners, ushers in these hotels and restaurants are their own fellow citizens back in their home countries.
These investors open banks and only people qualified to work as tellers, managers security guards are fellow country countrymen and women. We become buyers and consumers in our own land. Why do you and your government allow our opportunities to be robbed in broad light? Why Mr. President? Are you their President or our President? Are you for us or for them? Have they voted for you one day or we are the ones voting for you in 2010 elections?
Piece of advice to above complaint
Mr. President, we need you and your government as a whole to protect our jobs and opportunities, small opportunities or jobs like waiters, drivers, conductors, tellers in the bank, among others do not need foreigners to operate them if indeed this country is for South Sudanese under their legitimate government led by you your Excellency Sir. It does not need Jesus Christ to come down from heaven to tell these foreigners that those jobs are for South Sudanese. It does not need foreign reasonable parliament to make laws to protect the jobs for locals and nationals in South Sudan.
Shame on our national parliament in particular our national parliamentarians who are there for their stomachs and not their constituents whom they represent in the national parliament. It is your duty to make laws to protect our opportunities and that doesn’t need divine intervention for such laws to be made. Do you really know your work or role as national members of Parliament?
Shame on you all for messing our opportunities to the benefit of foreigners, I have stayed in Kenya for last 17 years, I attempted one day to look for job as bus conductor, do you know what I was told, come tomorrow many times till I was one day told that such opportunities are for locals and even if we employ you, these locals will harm you for being a foreigner. Do I have a voice to complain? Is it my country? Do I have a government to protect my opportunities and jobs? Are we having national MPs to make laws to protect our jobs and opportunities?
Great shame on you all! You have failed the executive arm of government to operate in the vacuum without laws to protect their authority. You have failed our President! You have failed South Sudan government! You have failed South Sudanese! You have failed our national pride as independent state! You have failed the cause of our struggle! You have failed the future of your children! You have failed your own selves! Big shame on you all!
Mr. President, when you were in the bush for 21 years or so, you were fighting for South Sudanese to be free and enjoy the opportunities in their independent country to the best of their abilities, but where is that pride that made you to stay in the bushes for all those years? Why do you allow our pride to be abused before your naked eyes? Are you not our President? If you are our President, then who is there to protect our opportunities and jobs as well as our national pride? I won’t blame you much Mr. President but your advisors are shameless doom for South Sudan. Our opportunities as nationals of the Republic of South Sudan do not need magic to be exclusively for South Sudanese.
I was very happy and jump up with joy when I heard that our national parliament passed NGOs law to give locals or nationals 80% of the jobs of those NGOS operating in the country. It was a national move that any proud nation can do but tarwehen ya Mr. President, it was just a public show with nothing to smile about. What happened to the law I heard it was even signed into law by your very beautiful hands as President of the Republic. You have betrayed our cause of struggle Mr. President. Please make law effective or else you and your generals you are squandering your legacy slowly.
My classmates in the universities in East Africa are more qualified than me, yet we finish in the same class and in the same system. Where do they get 10 years or five years work experiences than me yet we are mates in class and in the same systems? Please make us proud of our country, a country you sacrifice your youth hood and life for us to be free and benefit exclusively without anyone questioning why we are South Sudanese. Please protect our jobs and business opportunities because we are unfairly outcompete by these foreigners due to lack of political will from our government to put South Sudanese interests first.
What do I want as independent citizen in my land? Do I need to be employed by my government or area MP? No, I don’t need job from area MP or national government, all I need is an opportunity to be availed to me or protect my opportunities in order to open my business as a proud citizen of my country. This is all what South Sudanese need from their government Mr. President and our national Parliamentarians. If this is an insult to our national leaders and not advice to do the necessary for this country and its citizens, then this is risky to my life for honestly advising them to do what is best for their constituents, then so be it.
Give South Sudan security first priority by paying our security personnel on time
Dear President Kiir, our soldiers are dying of hunger and diseases among many other problems due to negligence they endure under your government. Their salaries have to undergo various process of transfer from one General to the other with money reaching them after six months and when these salaries arrived, it is just one month salary yet they stay for six months without salaries and food. I don’t need even to lie about their medical supply which is zero percent. Why Mr. President? Why do you allow your own security personnel to suffer yet the security of this country depend on them? Why Sir?
Our former President Beshir starved us to die of hunger as civilians during the years of struggle, but his soldiers never slept in hunger or without medical supply. Why? This is because he believed in them as security for his government, himself as well as a country at large despite opposition. Your security system is struggling to maintain security and peace because your soldiers lack food, good salaries to be paid on time, and medication for soldiers.
If these things are done in your government Sir, you will even see the soldiers of your opponents running away and join your side and abandon their bosses in the bush. Please leave us to die as citizens but feed your soldiers so that we are protected and our borders be protected too. Move out of your comfort zone, J1 and visit your troops wherever they are stationed and let them feel your presence as their commander in chief.
Get to know their problems Mr. President because your government and yourself depends on them. Stop your corrupt generals from delaying their salaries. Create direct payment system for soldiers to receive their salaries without first going through their generals. They were liberators of South Sudan and not looters of South Sudan soldiers. I am very proud of your Chief of Staff, General King Paul Malong Awan Anei, give him powers to reform the army and you will see positive change in the security sector of Republic.
Protect your soldiers and prioritize their services and needs for this country security is in their hands. You will win the rebellious soldiers if they hear that your own soldiers under your command are well treated and dearly paid.
Stop pleasing disgruntled generals in exchange of South Sudanese blood for they killed us in order for you to promote them as Generals. Your appeasement policy of giving them what they want failed to work they cause South Sudan more bloodshed every day. How many generals have you promoted and bought them V-8s but has it stop rebellion instead it has fuelled their greed for ranks and power in the national army. Stop this act of awarding hooliganism instead punishing them for crimes they committed against South Sudan.
Shame on poor Generals of ranks and power! Mr. President, you are making everyone to take advantage of your leniency and use it to frustrate your government and South Sudan as a whole, act now and never please them anymore. Train your soldiers including your former bush Generals to remove bush minds out of them and accept to reform themselves as proud soldiers of our Republic. Let them be felt as symbol of National Unity. I know this is nasty to your generals but if my honesty to advise them to change for betterment of South Sudan is an insult to them and risk to my life, then so be it.
South Sudan needs economic experts and not economic robbers
First all, allow me to applaud your recent reshuffle in the Bank of South Sudan, it was a reasonable move at reasonable time Mr. President and you deserve millions of congratulation for work well done. Please keeps the ladder going for South Sudan needs such bold decisions now and forever. Mr. President, South Sudan economy needs experts who have South Sudan at their hearts and not looters who are misleading our economy with their outdated ideas. Such self-claimed experts love themselves and not South Sudan that is why they choose to be looters instead of being expert for South Sudan development and prosperity.
Mr. President gives our new Minister of Finance and Bank Governors powers to set the system going by initiating reforms in our economic sectors in order for South Sudan to experience economic recovery and growth. This must start at the borders where custom officers are adamant looters that collect millions of dollars for their families and stomachs and never carry about South Sudan. Our new Minister needs to deploy expertise custom officials who have South Sudan at their hearts and who will make our borders flow with dollars into government coffers instead into their pockets.
Bank of South Sudan needs to open their border branches in order for all custom duty dues to be directly paid into them by all our traders and investors who are doing business in South Sudan. Should this happen, then all these ill-advised custom officials will never lay their fingers on our money and our economy will experience double digital growth if tax system is well monitored and facilitated by government through its expertise ministry of Finance.
If this is done then where will villagers without a single knowledge in custom system and banking find their fingers in our money at the borders? If our new bosses in the bank and Finance ministry want to succeed then there is a task to do at the borders because there is a great extend of looting at our borders. If this is done Mr. President, then our government will forget oil money as only source of income to south Sudan. Please give enough power to the Minister to put the necessary reforms into the system for betterment of our currency to do well against foreign currencies in the international system. This does not need Americans or British experts to come and reform our economic system but just our own knowledgeable experts within South Sudan soil. If this is an insult to our corrupt custom officials and not advice, so be it.
Stop building other countries but build your own South Sudan
Mr. President, I heard you crying faults and ask for help from international community in particular those countries where our looters have taken our money to help your government recover our wealth squandered by our leaders and looters. Mr. President, this is not my own making that our wealth and money is stored abroad and use to build other countries and not our beautiful South Sudan.
Starting from generals in the army, ministers in the government, national Mps among other civil servants in the government, all have apartments and foreign bank accounts in the neighboring countries. Why? They are refugees of their own system! They are South Sudanese by skins and foreigners by hearts! They are South Sudanese by chance and never believe in South Sudan as a country and motherland! They are luxury creators of happiness abroad instead inside their South Sudan!
Where on earth will I be a minister of education in my home government and still believe that the education system of neighboring country is still the best for my children? Where on earth will I be a minster of security in my country and I still believe that the security of my country is not safe for my looted wealth and family? Where on earth will all government officials store their wealth in foreign countries and still think there is a country they are proud of?
Please at least loot our wealth but use it to build apartments within our soil and borders rather than building apartments in foreign borders. Who among you all will attest to this that it is a lie? You are shame to our country and if telling the truth kills then I am ready to be killed for pointing out the truth. I am not jealous of your questionable wealth but I just need you to use it to at least build schools and hospitals especially if each one of you build a school or hospital even in his/her own village. “Wek abi rot koc ma!” God help South Sudan! We have made our neighbors’ economies to grow and destroy our own as if we are aliens in our own country. Shame on you all! If advising you to change or use our wealth for betterment of our Country is a misplaced advice, so be it.
Mr. President, is this the country you sacrifice your youth life? Where you leading looters or liberators? Your government blames Riek Machar for woes that befall South Sudan but not Riek Machar alone as problem to South Sudan but the looters that surround your government are worse than Riek Machar who is gunning his way to J1. Why Mr. President? Why do heroes and heroines turn to be looters of our national wealth instead of being blessing to South Sudan? Why do we choose to abandon our national struggle? Why Mr. President? If telling the truth kills, so be it!
In conclusion, I am asking our government through its parliament and executive to protect our opportunities squandered by foreigners. There is nowhere I will be an investor in foreign country as well as being an employer of my citizens across the borders against the policies of South Sudan. What exactly do common South Sudanese like me needs? I need peace and available opportunity for me and my country. It should be South Sudan first! It should be South Sudanese first in all aspects of life.
I am ready to face any consequences after all, I don’t care anymore about my life, and we are 25 boys of Chan Akol, all serving in the army under Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit except me alone who did not join the army. I am an honest South Sudanese who want my leaders and my people to change and to act like South Sudanese than acting like aliens in their own land. I have been roaming the streets of Juba from one office to the other and from one NGO to the other with a degree and 7 years work experience as a teacher but to no avail.
My tribal status does allow me to be employed by NGO because government for Dinka and non-Dinka for NGOS, Was this the country we fought for ya quana? I tried all I could to look for opportunity for myself but no chance because my own government is not there to protect my opportunities. Do I need job from government or NGO? No, I don’t need your jobs but give me peace and opportunity to create my own that will employ me and others. Is it expensive quest?
Till then will truth set us free! “Ok abi rot tekuec ok luel yith!!!”By Ayuel Madut Chan, son of poor village chief from Kuanygoi and live in Juba!!!!!
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