South Sudan: How We Lost Our Political Project?

By Ariik Atekdit, Gogrial, South Sudan

Tuesday, November 26, 2019 (PW) — I remember the days we sat at a tea-maker’s Rakuba. We took together our cups of coffee. We sipped and chatted. You and I assumed to be wiser than others. You talked objectively in the days, blaming the failures we have seen together in what we both assumed to be our government. I admired your objectivity. You said you couldn’t believe to make the same mistakes, if appointed. You continued to blame here and there but otherwise, you seemed to be focused. I appreciated your wisdom and you got excited and enthusiastic and talked more and more with some added courage.

However, sometime later you got changed. It has not been you again.  I saw you getting introduced to the real practical politics in the nation. You turned wild. I don’t know, how you got your smartphone but indeed you bought a new brand one and I remained without. You talked so much of Facebook politics but I had no smartphone nor Facebook account and so I turned to be much more of your listener then being a mutual contributor to the conversation and so you outdated me. I accepted to be a backward gentleman.

And I saw your politics so much turned Microsoft-type and it became more of an abstract business. You didn’t realize that! And your importance among us grew bigger but quickly got reduced and faded. Nobody among your group members could know your whereabouts. Sometimes we saw your pictures circulating online taken from big hotels in Juba. Sometimes, I saw you posting pictures while in planes in the high altitudes, above sea levels of course. And therefore, we parted. I went to the village.

When I joined Facebook, I struggled to add you as a friend but the message came back to me saying “This person has more than 5000 friends” and I could not get you as a friend. I wanted to be your friend but Facebook refused, I resorted to only follow you, just because I admired you in the beginning of our days. You thought that I wanted some kind of support from you because of your heavy political growth! 

I realized sometimes that your ideas were not resembling my ideas any longer. You became, a politician of the real African type. You correctly got aligned to an uncle-group. You began to praise the leadership in hunt for appointment. I wonder, how quickly you have lost your college politics of objectivity. You developed objectives to attract presidential or gubernatorial decrees on you but they were all the crafted types. I didn’t know that they would grant you an appointment. Because they were not indeed relevant to our past thoughts. 

Indeed, you got appointed you cheered in for happiness & celebrations and forgot all your campaign objectives & projects while heading for swearing-in. You allow the poor local citizens to spend their little available resources on you in what you believed to be your due gifts for appointment. I don’t why they would spend on you the beads, the woven bedsheets and many more. You didn’t ask why your appointment would be celebrated.

You forgot your common tea place; you forgot all your group members. When in for leadership briefing you developed horns which you wanted to resort to when managing the public. While in the office you sharpened the horns & pierced them strongly against the community that received you heavily at your work place.

When the community screamed in pain, you spoke out your mind and claimed to use your authority on them in protection, you forgot the rule of law. Now as such you resort not to pick phone calls from those who would advise you for better leadership skills in order not to fail. You think they are your enemies. My number was among those you rejected to pick when in the office. It was unfortunate. I didn’t like. Not all phone calls want money from you!

You pick only from those who praise you and those who claim that they have met your enemies speaking against you. You assume that your success holds on them. When I approached your office, your body guards badly pushed me back, they thought I was a beggar or someone who wanted an employment from your office. At this level your guards can beat people & break the laws, you don’t care; you have the power. You thought they were right.

While at this stage you exposed your total power and assumed to be the strongest ever. You diverted & misused the resources, in order to protect yourself. Your past enemies became your friends and your past friends became the enemies of now. You that you were wise or have got the bright analysis.

At this time, you are becoming weaker & weaker on daily basis and all your weaknesses got exposed, all fear on you is dropped. You just still don’t know is happening at the decree would be announced.  Your behaviour & decision despised you. When people left your office to some nearby neighbourhood; they spoke on the street with hands thrown in the air in description of your cruelty; doing all that unknowingly. Your guards laughed at such persons and think that they are mentally crazy.

At this level you must be waiting for the next decree, the decree of removal, you never know. One evening like usual you are sacked, fired, relieved you become an Ex, the former or so. You developed worries! Yet there were no solutions! Your face got frowned.

When you nervously checked your files & documents from your briefcase under care of your private secretary; you badly discovered that you have not done enough on your objectives & projects. You got you have been fighting the war of protection since your arrival to the office. Now they have succeeded against you. And you could hear your close friends including your private secretary and office Manager congratulating your successor. You wondered why? That is politics!

You bite your finger in anger for time misused & lost, immediately you joined the oppositions and blamed the appointing desk of not supporting you.

That has been a continuous scenario of our various political appointments in South Sudan.  All have gone the same way! That is Politics at normal practice! You never do what you promise to do! You never realize your mistakes only until your removal time arrives!  Politics is only good for those who read, analyse and think on their own!

You have lost your political project and objectives at your own briefcase! I know you would end up with the statements of I wish I knew!

This article doesn’t target any person but focuses on the general situation. The ideas in the article are personal and do not represent the views of any association or organization. The author of this article is a former Journalist, freelance writer and analyst. He holds a bachelor degree in Bio/Chemistry. He can be reached @ email: ariqdudic@gmail.com.

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