Bor youth: Any statement threatening lives of fellow citizens is unacceptable
3 min readBy Philip Thon Aleu, Juba, South Sudan
July 5, 2017 (SSB) — With due respect to freedom of speech and expression, any statement threatening lives of fellow citizens is unacceptable. It is a crime and I don’t know if the authors of the said letter are free or summoned to police for questioning. I heard the leader speaking on VOA South Sudan in Focus with a relaxed voice.
Therefore, unnecessary is the single word to describe this letter from Bor Community Youth Association in Bor. First of all, organizations such as Bor community youth association are not representative of the people. Like other tribal associations in the country, not every Bor youth subscribe to Bor community association.
These associations evolved due to what I can rightly call leadership syndrome – where everyone is sick for not being a leader because leadership position comes with access to public resources. Pathetic!!
Note this: Bor has clan and section that have outlived decades of civilization. Today, the community leadership has morphed to new realities. Now Bor has a paramount (presiding over the county), Payam head chief, Boma chief and clan chief and sub-chiefs. This hierocracy is very rigid and follows family/clan expansion.
So different sections of Bor community are blood relatives (this is vital for non-Bor readers). The chiefs, up to today, decide on marriages, divorces, compensation for murders and relations with neighbors.
It is a type of family-tree chain – meaning closely related people are ruled by a chief and so on and so forth. So no single association truly represents the Bor community – whatsoever.
But make no mistake; this is not only for Bor community. Every South Sudanese community/ethnicity has tribal union/association. Like in many South Sudanese communities, Bor now has very many leaders – virtually doing nothing or duplicating the same works.
Reading the letter closely, one sees desperation – partly due to this economic crisis. But no situation is permanent. South Sudanese have had many eras – the era of IDP camp managers, the era of traders, the era of soldiers, the Lost Boys and government cashiers and so on – have come to pass.
This era of dollar will equally go. So let’s remain hopeful for the best in our country and accept that we are all South Sudanese with equal rights to residence and employment. We must revive the spirit of hard work and look at opportunities during difficult times.
My appeal to sisters and brothers from Equatoria and other parts of the country is to regard this letter as non-representative of the Bor people. If some of the allegations make sense – like disparities in offering job opportunities, let’s work on them – though I know this is very hard to take in our country right now.
(This message is purely my opinion and does not represent any Bor community group).
© PTA
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