By Pal Chol Nyan, Juba, South Sudan
Friday, February 28, 2020 (PW) — His joining of the IO is given derogatory names. It is wrong. He is entitled to what he thinks for himself and his people.
It has caused unnecessary row that this heavyweight politician has thrown in his lot with Dr Riek Machar, the betè noire of many and who rocks the boat of the power wielders.
It is to be recalled that Commander Telar Ring Takpiny Deng has large followings back home, a strong tribal and political base for that matter. This is what is causing the anxiety given the subsequent resignations by politicians, youth et al believed to be his followers.
Let us know that this is normal in political practice. It is hard for the novices or those who started to learn it. Just take time you will know that he has not committed any crime. He calculated it well and conscientiously.
Hon Telar, a politician and a former SPLA commander turned General is a shrewd statesman. He held several constitutional political posts since 2005, prominent of which was the State Minister in the Presidency in the then united Sudan.
I don’t need to discuss this at length. I have nothing in common with him. I am just giving my opinion. My clear conscience tells me anybody shifting his political allegiance is entitled to do so. That is democracy, political pluralism and multi-partism as many could have read in his concise and brief resignation letter. Where did he go wrong?
There are idiosyncratic cousins who are lambasting Hon Telar for joining the IO. Others say he is looking for greener pastures. I beg to disagree.
A few IO sympathizers are not happy because they think he was involved in the 2013 incident. Is there a politician or an army General in South Sudan who can claim to be holier than thou in our crisis? Political Parties or Organisations are like rivers that don’t fill with water.
It doesn’t need a rocket science to know that Hon Telar is being called names because he left the Party headed by a tribesman and joining somebody fighting them. Anybody doing that is considered a betrayer. Look here, it isn’t any longer a tribal politics and business. The time for eating is finished.
Until we bury the hatchet, South Sudan will not get back to its original state where peace, harmony and love for one another were what we had been known for. Amb. Telar knows best his political strategies.
His joining of the IO may be a blessing in disguise. The call by the President for the people of South Sudan to reconcile and forgive one another may be getting fulfilled.