Is public demonstration the way to tackle the ills bedeviling South Sudan?
5 min readBy Kocrup Makuach, Nairobi, Kenya
May 9, 2017 (SSB) —- I appeal to the people of South Sudan not to listen to the music of propaganda which is being played on social media. At close observation, a rationale mind can tell that the Government of the Republic of South Sudan under the leadership of President Kiir Mayardit is now working tirelessly, day and night to salvage people’s fangs of grievances.
It is true that our nation is undergoing a lot of difficulties and turmoil. South Sudan is suffering from an economic basket- case due to civil strife, which culminated to man-made famine, insecurity, inter- communal pogroms and skyrocketed commodity prices. All these challenges are part and parcel of fragile state like South Sudan.
So the big questions remain, who do we blame for all these problems? It goes to our political leaders who pursue for raw power, the selfish, parochial and sectarian groups. There is an African saying that goes” when the two elephants fight, the grasses suffer”. In other words, the innocent people are suffering now.
Millions of people are displaced from their homes with masses seeking refuge in our neighboring nations. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying by the day in the country. What a mess for our nation we fought for assiduously and passionately for five decades to liberate from the yoke of Arabism, Islamism and parasitism.
Opposition political actors – owners of the fictional constructs – have openly admitted that they are not interested in anything or committed to peace, stability, devolution, services delivery and good governance. They are not united by ideology, philosophy, policies and principles. They are not interested in building a cohesive, united and peaceful country and leaving behind a legacy of economic growth, development and prosperity.
All what they are seeking is raw power and unadulterated power so as to use it to protect their ill- gotten wealth and lord it upon their people. This reminds me of Martin Luther King Jr’s famous quotes “we need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice.”
President Kiir Mayardit, the urbane technocrat educated who is bound to transform Villa South Sudan into the nerve centre that puts Humpty Dumpty back together again. A man of virtue, unfortunately unknown to his critics, President Kiir is one in a generational leader of Republic of South Sudan. The imprints of his selfless deeds remain visible in recent history of troubled South Sudan.
In quest for peace and in the aftermath of the July 2016 fighting, he appointed first- vice President, Gen. Taban Deng to replace Dr. Riek Machar as a show of commitment of the Implementations of the Peace Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCISS) which was signed in Addis – Ethiopia.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit went on to formulate a National Dialogue that sort to bring all political players on board in an effort to cease the war in our land. To me, such undertakings come to naught only to those hell bent to succeed him by all means.
John Garang while speaking on peace asked, “what does peace mean to us in South Sudan? What does it mean to me personally not as a leader but as brother, an uncle, a father and a child of God? There are many- here and elsewhere- who think that peace is about job allocation, appointments to positions of authority or lining pockets through misuses or abuse of public assets and lording it over others. Those who thus think must be reading from a different script. We have more supreme goals and loftier ideals and alternatives.
My script reads that peace is what people think and believe peace should not hold for them. Peace is a promise of better living to the young, the middle aged and to each individual, to the unemployed and the destitute, to the sick and the unlettered all over South Sudan. It’s a cohabitation defined by love and care for each other even when to surmounted by mountain high challenges of life”.
Western ideologies keen to short change people of their democratic choices can never be accepted as solutions to the challenges facing our people in South Sudan. In my opinion, the student’s demonstrations against the government taking place currently in Juba have no interest of all our people on board. It reflects those of the few political elites colluding with their Western cronies to overthrow president Kiir’s regime.
The interests of all people of South Sudan can only be represented in a national dialogue that squarely spotlights on the needs of each and every individual, community or social status notwithstanding. The protests taking place in juba today appears as an introduction to imperialism and neocolonialism that the people of our beloved nation must resist at all costs!
You can reach the author via his email: kerubino kocrup <kerubino2006@yahoo.com>
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