41st Anniversary of SPLM/SPLA May 16th: Dear fallen heroes and heroines, lend me your ears
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Malek Arol Dhieu, South Sudanese writer and journalist
By Malek Arol Dhieu, Juba, South Sudan
Friday, 17 May 2024 (PW) — As today marks the 16th of May, I send you my salutations for your heroic sacrifice for South Sudan. Your blood has truly cemented our national foundation as quoted in the national anthem. You fought tooth and nail to see South Sudan liberated. But unfortunately, the leader of the movement, Dr. John Garang de Mabior, died in a helicopter crash just 21 days after the signing of the CPA.
The world still mourns for him today, not because people want him to live forever, but because people knew South Sudan after John Garang de Mabior would be for specific people. People knew South Sudan would be chopped into pieces, dipped into pockets and run away with. People knew some South Sudanese would look more South Sudanese than others. They were right.
Dear fallen heroes and heroines, your colleagues whom you had left to lead South Sudan have abandoned leading South Sudan and ventured into looting South Sudan. If, indeed, dead people could haunt the living, it is time you can haunt the leaders of South Sudan. When you haunt them, I request you haunt them with RBGs, 42s, 12s and other big artillery so that when they do not give you the right answer to why they loot South Sudan, you shoot them on spot.
The oil you left to develop South Sudan has been turned as a private property for those who think they are the only South Sudanese existing. The abundant gold in Kapoeta is a redline to mention. Neither the parliament nor the presidency talks about gold and other minerals, but they are being mined massively. Everything is in mess. The infrastructure is too poor. States are not connected to one another and to the capital city, Juba. A half of the national offices is operating in fabricated offices.
To make it worse, the SPLM National Secretariat operates in a fabricated office. The budget for constructing the offices is available, but because the SPLM Secretariat is a looting ground, the entrusted SPLM officials could loot anything, including the office furniture. The healthcare system is too poor. The public hospitals are not free at all. Patients pay, though what they pay is three times cheaper than what they could pay in private hospitals. The public hospitals are not equipped with drugs and diagnostic instruments and above all, health workers are underpaid.
The army, SPLA, now SSPDF, has been abandoned completely. Soldiers could go up to 8 months without salary. Civil servants are working for free. If they receive the salary twice or thrice a year, it means this is a clear voluntary work. Dear fallen heroes, wake up and do something about the ongoing crisis. The prices have skyrocketed to such an extent the citizens cannot afford putting food on their tables. Transport fare has become another big problem. It ranges from 1,500 SSP and above.
Wake up and do something my dear heroes and heroines. Do something even if it means slaughtering all the incompetent leaders, let it be. Let them go. They have ruined the lives of South Sudanese to the last degree. Let them go today, not tomorrow. Dear Dr. John Garang de Mabior, have you died a total death? Are you not lonely where you are living in? Come and take your colleagues with you. They have eaten all what is meant for 21st generation and shamelessly advanced to consume what is for future generations.
Dear fallen heroes and heroines, the government of South Sudan is highly resistant to any change. Anyone who is seen bringing change becomes the number one enemy. I’m a victim myself. To me, South Sudan is governing itself. There is no one in the presidency, including the one who is too greedy for power, but when enthroned, he does nothing. There is no one in the cabinet. There is no one in the parliament. Those who assume to be governing South Sudan are wolves in human’s skin. They have consumed South Sudan to the point “Land of Great Abundance” no longer sounds good in the people’s ears. Dear fallen heroes and heroines, do something as early as today.
The citizens are extremely tired of the coalition government where resources of the country are eaten in the name of peace implementation. Through the revitalised peace agreement, they have looted South Sudan including the white people. Now, they have embarked on what they call Nairobi Peace Talks, which will be another medium for draining the resources of South Sudan.
Dear fallen heroes and heroines, as I speak to you, the citizens of South Sudan are starving. They no longer afford a meal per day. They no longer afford a tablet of paracetamol. They no longer afford transport fares. They no longer afford renting. They no longer afford a jerrycan of drinking water. The citizens are living far below the poverty line.
Dear fallen heroes and heroines, you have died in vain. Your living colleagues have tinted your legacies for the liberation struggles. Turn your eyes dear founding fathers. Bring a lasting solution to the unending crisis in South Sudan. This is a voice of a malnourished citizen on behalf of other malnourished citizens. I long to see the conditions of South Sudanese improved.
The author, Malek Arol Dhieu, is a concerned South Sudanese medical student at Juba University who writes under the Column “Sowing The Seed Of Truth” and can be reached via his email address: Malek Arol Dhieu <malengaroldit@gmail.com>
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