Unity of our people is the key to political stability and economic prosperity
By Nhial Bol Aken, Juba, South Sudan
December 7, 2017 (SSB) — When the fellow citizens walked to Dr. John Garang Mausoleum to celebrate the declaration of their independence in 2011, I was among them but soon after hearing some speeches from our leaders, I turned nervous and I concluded that we are destined to a fail state.
The speeches focused on the historical facts of the struggles, establishments of government, the formation of the commissions, the resources we have and desired to develop a newborn country. Little was said about the unity of our people, the unity of South Sudanese.
This made me believe that the people of South are not the real focus and will never be a focus since we repeatedly preached today creation of more states and not a desire to bring unity of the 64 tribes.
I have general observations from key remarks of the leaders, call them government officials or opposition, or communities of the divided lines, the word unity of the people is rarely said. Sometimes, I heard others saying unity of the country meaning not necessary unity of the people.
One time, I saw Uncle Bona Malual wearing a t-Shirt with a written word, one people, and one nation. My take on this interpretation of this slogan is those who are championing it to impose their desire to dominate. We are people of one destiny not one people because of 64 tribes that formed this nation.
As we continue to celebrate our hard independence, there are issues that divided and the government should its own way address, not through National Dialogue because it is a non-starter to address the issues that divided.
I am of the view that there should be a policy document named Great compromise of the 64 tribes. I am proposing this great compromise policy because of the fear in me that efforts by some tribes will initiate domestic colonialism for our country and if it happens, it creates a challenge to the unity of the people of South Sudan.
From my reading, importing t-Shirts with slogans one people, one nation will never bring the solution to the current crisis. Great compromise policy is the key, however, this policy cannot be achieved unless we introduce three Federal Republics notable Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Equatoria.
If these three regions are federated as independent autonomous, issues of peace will be sustainable.
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