The Declaration of People’s United Forum in South Sudan
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By Dr. Gai Chol Paul (PhD), Juba, South Sudan.
Friday, 29 July 2022 (PW) — Dear Fellow Countrymen and Women, I greet you in the name of peace, health, and prosperity! Though we are not in a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous state, I believe these to be fundamental human rights everyone should enjoy. I know many of you have been displaced since the beginning of the 2013 conflict and are not within South Sudan. Many among you have experienced brutality, and the situation has forced you into exile.
Most of you within the country lack basic needs and are constantly in fear and worry because everything is insecure in South Sudan. You all know this country came as the result of the sacrifices of millions of lives and uncountable resources. Many of you participated in the Anyanya 1 and SPLM wars of liberation. It was not a one-person achievement; it was our achievement, which means we all have the responsibility to bring the country back to the right path.
We can bring the country to the right path if we accept and believe the current suffering we face is the result of the failure of the SPLM-led government and our silence to demand and support change initiatives in South Sudan. We can bring the country to the right path if we accept and believe our suffering results from our supporting unscrupulous politicians in the name of a tribe, region, and clan. We can bring the country to the right path if we accept and believe our suffering will never end unless we demand change by ending kleptocracy in South Sudan.
We can bring the country to the right path if we accept and believe that corrupt politicians, whom we call tribe men, regional men, and clan men, sabotage our future as well as the future of our children. To bring the country to the right path, we need to unite and abandon things that divide us, such as tribalism, clannism, regionalism, and unnecessary support for corrupt politicians who have taken our country for the last 17 years hostage.
For 17 years, our country has experienced rebellions, killings, displacements, rapes, destruction, corruption, and hunger. We have been mocked, scolded, insulted, and branded a violent society by our neighbours because of the situations our leaders created in our country. You know our values. We are the world’s most socially, peacefully, and generous society.
However, our values have been tainted and corrupted by a few individuals who don’t care for people’s welfare and the country’s future. We have the power to clean up our stained glory and claim back our lost values if we unite and support a change to end kleptocracy in South Sudan.
We can end kleptocracy if we unite and disassociate ourselves from supporting unscrupulous tribal politicians and focus on establishing sustainable governance in South Sudan. We can end kleptocracy if we accept and believe the power is with us, and we can remove those who are imposing themselves to rule us.
We can end kleptocracy if we stop supporting tribal warlords and begin supporting change initiatives with our best efforts regardless of our tribes, clans, and regions. Though tribes, clans, and regions are pillars of our diversity, our leaders have abused them and turned them into tools that divide us and propagate their 17 years of corruption and do-nothing self-imposed rule.
Let’s unite and use our diversity to effect change that will free us of the current suffering we face and help us establish the foundation for our country for the better future of our children. We all fought for this country on different fronts regardless of age, gender, and location.
Therefore, I call upon all men and women within South Sudan and abroad to join the People United Forum and support its objectives: (1) to empower South Sudanese to claim their democratic rights; (2) to transform South Sudan from a war-ravaged country to a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous country in Africa; (3) to build an inclusive and sustainable economy; (4) to establish the rule of law and promote the doctrine of separation of powers; and (5) to strengthen the capacities of public and private institutions to eliminate corruption in South Sudan.
In the names of our martyrs, our quest for democracy, our fight for liberty and freedom, and respect for our diversity, I declare the People United Forum as the political organization in South Sudan from July 27, 2022.
The author, Dr. Gai Chol Paul (PhD), is the Chairperson of the People’s United Forum (PUF) and can be reached via: info@puf-ss.org.
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