From Chuei-Thon to Chuei_Kheer: The Heartless MPs of Jonglei State

Are our MPs heartless or it’s because they are inadmissible?

By Majak Kuany Alier, Juba, South Sudan

Monday, November 02, 2020 (PW) — Dear readers of this column, I would like to beg your due diligent to allow me to share the above question with you.

I understand the question is a sensitive one. As a public watchdog and a voice of those who can’t speak for themselves, I thus, take this opportunity to elaborate more on the subject to depict the plight of the Jonglei state flood-affected population by raising the questions as an eye-opener to our MPs.

Since July, thousands of innocent and poor Jonglei state citizens have been affected and uprooted by the devastating floods while their members’ of parliament are not only good at folding their hands with glue but their eyes, hearts seemed to be blindfolded to see the befalling disaster.

In every country there are key responsibilities of MPS which include making and amending laws, discuss public policy, analyze the work of government and above all, they represent their electorates. 

Throughout their tenure in office since some of them were elected during Sudan’s general election in 2010 prior to our independence, they have not stood with their electorates in the face of challenges. 

We have seen them receiving a handful of token of appreciation from the head of state but failed to replicate the kind gesture toward their own people who gave them the opportunity to dine together with the President. 

Out of all their responsibilities, I will only critique one obligation out of the four roles, since charity begins at home. I want my Jonglei state MPs at the national level to understand that they have terribly failed their responsibility toward their constituents.  

From Cuei-Thon to Cuei_Keer, we have a good number of MPS but I doubt if any of them have goof a message of comfort to mollify the poor grassroots who have borne the brunt of both man-made and natural disaster. If a word of mouth is so difficult to say how easy will they contribute funds to support their floods-affected victims?

Imagine, these are the MPs who have been receiving CDF funds since 2010, including the recent 2018 40,000 U. S. dollars allocated to them by the President. None of them didn’t dare to support a single person in their homes’ villages. 

Today, it is the UN and humanitarian agencies left to shoulders the burden of providing life-saving needs to their tomorrow constituents as if they are not there. How is it hard for these MPs to start a fundraising drive to lure the nation into tackling the most affected state?

I raised the question not because I want to mock or flatter my honorable members of parliament, instead, I need them to hark back their roles and responsibilities. Oh yes, the majority might be having the same thought as mine.

Nevertheless, the nature of the country’s political scenery forced others to preserve their curiosity, as for me, it is my duty to inform the lawmakers of their responsibilities to live to the tasks as provided by the constitution.

As someone who serves the rights of others that include the MPS, I will not keep quiet and burry my right of raising a concern like the noble members who have failed to seek to address issues of concerns raised in the past by the people they represent in their electoral state (their constituents).

Sometimes, I think the reason why they are not raising an issue about the suffering of their people could be the fact that they are not legitimately voted into the parliament? If my assertion is not the case, then why do they allow their people to endure these great adversities without their single intervention?

If indeed they believe they were voted into the assembly with a specific purpose, and term to serve, I trust majority of them by now would have a volunteer to mobilize resources including spearheading the evacuation drive of the most vulnerable households to the safe areas.

But since they know they are hand-pick MPs which make them transitional lawmakers, why would they give a listening ear to the plight of people amid it is their constitutional mandate to nurture a system of check and balance in the country as provided by the law.

The author, Majak Kuany Alier, is a professional journalist and a Managing Editor for The Witness newspaper based in Juba, also a freelance correspondent for the Chinese News Agency (Xinhua). He be reached at kuanyalier@gmail.com or WhatsApp him via +211916729080 or mobile: 0925848660

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