An open letter to the President: Lou Ariik community in Tonj has a big wound in her heart
Dear Mr. President, Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, as you visit the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region, remember that Lou Ariik Community has a big, fresh wound in their hearts
By Ariik Atekdit, Wau, South Sudan
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 (PW) — With absolute respect of your capacity as a President of the country, I am writing to you this letter and I hope you will have a chance to read it or somebody to converse it to you. And as you plan to visit your home region Bahr el Ghazal, it is important to collect and solve all the pains that have been created by your various administrators who you have posted to govern the population.
The region is complaining here and there in your name and you are almost to be hated than being love as a son. Most of the complaints are about lack of development to the local population. There are no road connections in the larger parts of Bahr el Ghazal. But above all there are no life-serving services like health facilities and schools especially in the area of Lou Ariik County, my village.
And to make the things worst Mr. President, histories of certain areas are being tarnished, distorted and thrown away as rubbish by your field administrators who represent you to the community and business individuals who have wrongly got money in their hands while cheating your administration for a claim on the services delivery.
You created states on October 2, 2015 and later on you established counties of various states in April 2016. Mr. President, I hope you remember that you issued a decree number 13/2016 on April 17, 2016, creating a new county in Tonj State, named ‘Lou Ariik County’. This decree was done according to the Council of States’ Resolution Nos. 02/2016 and 11/2016 dated April 15, 2016.
I am writing to provide this painful information to you that Lou Ariik Community became so much isolated from your administration and badly victimized, ignored and played about in Tonj State administration at your direct watch and at the watch of your organs and representatives whom we subject of bribes from business groups of my area.
There are some opposing rich cliques who had imposed an illegal change of name of our county from Lou Ariik to Alabek without providing a reason as to why. Severally we have explained it again and again that our identity as a people is not vested on Alabek Village which has currently turned into county’s Headquarters. The people and territory have been referred to as Lou Ariik and this is what we want and continue to maintain. We just don’t want to lose our identity. It is too expensive to accept!
We are all over the world being recognized as the People of Lou Ariik for a number of centuries. What is the problem today? If we had been very popular in greater Bahr el Ghazal region and beyond for this name, then what is particular today? I believe Mr. President as an elder in the region you must also know that there is Lou Ariik area that exists with people in it. But will you really know if there is a village called Alabek that can overwhelm it?
What is particular today in our assumption is the presence of money in the hands of some individuals who would like to create history of their own and want to swab out our identity, a fact that we will not allow to occur. Suppose the law and order protect, the constitution, history and people’s identity from being attacked by people of wealth. But we have seen that your administration doesn’t care much about our complaint, and this is creating wounds in our hearts.
We have never known as why businessmen are allowed to manipulate your authority with money? Does the governor have powers to reverse your decree? We are all South Sudanese including yourself and have read the South Sudan constitution and the existing acts in the country. We want you to catch for us the hands of individuals involved in this case. The truth has been the fact that Tonj Government’s top authority has easily been influenced and diverted by some financial benefits from businessmen oppose to Lou Ariik.
We have never known that Presidential signatures and decrees can be violated by the appointees, who still maintain their loyalty to the very head of the Government. However, it had happened when Akec Tong Aleu at the time unilaterally went against the Presidential decree and made his own order to side with the supporters of Alabek. Akec Tong did this in order to transfer the communal crisis to Lou Ariik in Tonj North but God has refused it and such bad wishes will continuously be intercepted by God from the ill-planners.
He instructed his appointee, the commissioner to implement his personal order against that of the community and the President; we thought you would react to it but it went in vain even after we wrote to you our letter with the confirmation of your reception.
When Anthony Bol Madut got appointed as a governor we thought he would come to settle the dispute on this unconstitutional practice but he kept delaying his plan to visit Lou Ariik County until his removal in January, yet the commissioner and his alliances are using the name of Alabek County in documents and the flag. Boldit since his appointment had never visited the county.
We therefore urged your authority to come in to solve this painful and destructive case in Lou Ariik County. Lou Ariik Community rejects the resolution that CONDONE Alabek as the name of our County. We kindly want your quick attention in this case Mr. President! Most of the elders in Lou Ariik Area got surprised as to why their voice is never heard.
You can the author via his email: Atekdit Mawien <ariqdudic@gmail.com>
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