The Mayhem that Combines Naam River with Jonglei Canal Issue: Why Dredging Naam River is the Last Option to Save Its Tributaries and Estuaries

By Tom Gatdel Malou, Juba, South Sudan

Monday, July 11, 2022 (PW) — I am writing to submit my scientific and local baseline information I have for River Naam as a senior citizen of South Sudan and an indigenous of the Upper Nile region. It is so troubling that responsible citizens who were to be on the frontline to inculcate the public on the importance of dredging River Naam are ostensibly championing the water crisis. My country’s compatriots, allow me to take you through a few tips that may aid your understanding in regard to dredging issues.

First and foremost, I would like to explain to you what the term “dredging” means environmentally, hydrologically, and geological-wise. Hydrologically, it is the excavation of materials from a water environment/surface with the mission of improving water depth, reshaping riverbanks, and increasing the current to supply the upstreams with enough water. This keeps checks and balances of water usage amongst the people along riparian areas, and I failed to grasp what creates angst amongst us.

Environmentally, dredging means the removal of the sediments and debris from the bottom of lakes, rivers, harbours, and other water bodies, whilst in geology, dredging is defined as the removal of silt and other materials from the bottom of the water body. This is where my colleagues, like Prof. John Akech and others, failed to interpret academically and hypothalamically. We need to genuinely reprimand things in ways that help us in bucking the phenomenon, and if not, then we will ultimately end up sabotaging state-benefiting projects. In a nutshell, international water law (International Watercourse Law) provides how nations along the coastline of the transboundary resource behave toward the shared resource.

Having said this, we should know that when dealing with Nile issues, it is indispensable to omit neighbouring nations whose presence around us has intertwining interactions with Nile sustainability. In an article I wrote on April 15, 2021, titled; The Unsolved Conflict/Forgotten Crisis in South Sudan; The Environmental Crisis, I called upon IGAD to include in the negotiations the environmental impacts which are pervasive throughout the ecosystem, biodiversity, and South Sudan’s ecology and that of its neighbours. I was not out of my senses, but I am just an environmentalist who tries to teach South Sudan and other international communities how the environment should be considered an integral part of governance.

I hypothesized that when we fight, the environment fights too, and when we negotiate, the environment must be re-negotiated too. Conversely, I am urging South Sudanese to cease from a mishmash of the issues for the disdain they hold for their politicians and their programs. There are times we have to rollercoaster over issues, whether with reason or without, but we have to also acknowledge that there are things brought forward by our leaders which are of importance to our lives, and the dredging of the River Naam is one of them. Raise your hands for the project in support of my opinions as a strong and productive citizen in the quest for sustainable development goals (SDGs) achievement.

If you take a glance at the satellite images, you will realize that the Nile’s capacity to siphon water from its sources is diminishing, and with no dredging of the Niles, let alone the River Naam, we shall end up having no river. Read the Bible; Isaiah 19:5, Ezekiel 30:12, and Zechariah 10:11.

Why Dredging River Naam will save its tributaries and estuaries

My fellow citizens, the Nile we are bragging about comes from Lake Victoria as its source/upstream and thereafter flows via Lake Albert in Uganda. Lake Victoria is shared by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and this implies that all these nations are part and parcel of Nile decision-making and sustainability. This is to say that even if the process of dredging was to be done to benefit other members of the Nile, we have to also respect international watercourse law.

Talking about dredging River Naam/Bhar El Ghazal, Dinkas in Bhar El Ghazal should not think that the river belongs to them, and the Western Nuer should as well not think so. It depends on how the water resources pass through your areas, and you have the prerogative to name it as per the view of your dialect. All these tribes must know that the river has its source outside South Sudan, and this renders the river transboundary in resource status. To elucidate why dredging River Naam will rescue the dying aquatics and dry up the tributaries, streams, and estuaries, listing the names of those wetlands will be the component to ease and remove the level of South Sudanese oblivion.

The suffering streams, estuaries, and tributaries as a result of River Naam invasive species like water hyacinth, Datura stramonium, Lantana Camara, reed, parthenium heterophoria, and inter alia, River Tiaak in Guit County dried up 2016-19, Lok, Caal, Wangtai, Nyin Ng’aai, Ngol, Barmalual, Wangkei, Tuut, Gany, and Nyaang dried up simultaneously. These rivers have their source in the River Naam/Bhar El Ghazel. The rivers mentioned in this iota had hippos, crocodiles, and other reptilians’ families, but now they are no longer there. Is this not a phenomenon or does Prof. Akech only know petroleum as a monetary resource but forget that the above are also income generators?

As an environmentalist, I am cautioning South Sudanese and other Africans to be careful and aware of some professors’ opinions as their professorship might mislead. Dredging the river Naam will ease water transport in that those who cannot afford air transport during rainy seasons can access Juba and their states through water transport. This is one of the core benefits of dredging the Naam river apart from other environmentally related benefits mentioned above.

Take an example of a Kenyan Presidential candidate who justified in his manifesto in his fight for Kenyan economic emancipation and revival policy that dwells on hyenas’ testes. Does he think Hyenas are not useful species and have to be extinct? Depending on your time zone, sleepover, or spent your day over this question.

To the presidency which is the project proponent, dredging has to be an honest and far mile from any disguised and if the public cynicism is that the company which won the tender or sub-contracted with the task is an interesting party, why don’t we use our environmentalists, geologists, and engineers to administer the work whilst we sub-contract countries with no conflict of interest like Rwanda and western countries if need be to excavate the river?

Furthermore, environmental and water projects always carry crises with them if various levers like governance, economy, individual collective actions, co-design and engagement, and technology are not incorporated. I am an environmentalist and I have all it takes to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prior to the commissioning of the project. Thus, I am here with a considerable cost, no special jets but normal Airways; normal hotels but not five-star hotels like in the case of imported environmentalists overseas.

In fact, the South Sudanese and Prof. Akech failed to separate River Naam and Jonglei Canal resumptions. These are two issues with different impacts, methods, and costs. No to Jonglei Canal resumption till further notice. Yes to the River Naam dredging project.

As I conclude, I firmly urge H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit to reconsider his decision to suspend the project and let the project go on as projected but with the changes of tenders as I had alluded to above. At the same time, I would like to urge the whole government of RTGONU to implement peace in letter and spirit and construct a mega-dam that will collect the water from the surface run-off for the purpose of water reservation and use in the near future.

Without forgetting to salute our martyrs, heroes, and heroines who fought for this rich nascent nation, it is my privilege to congratulate and wish all South Sudanese, including wildlife in various national parks and, of course, my local national park, Buma, a happy Independence Day!

The author, Tom Gatdel Malou, is a student at the University of Nairobi, Master of Arts in Environmental Planning and Management, Department of Geography, Population and Environmental Studies, and can be reached via his email: gatdelmalou@students.uonbi.ac.ke or phone +254717895916.

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