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| ONE NATION ONE PEOPLE THE SOUTH SUDAN WE WANT |
Who is a citizen? Not to waste time and going straight,
a citizen is a person by birth, or acquisition belonging to a particular country
entitled to rights and responsibilities of that country.
Looking throughout
the 13 years since CPA day on 09/01/2005, South Sudanese have been in a circle
of conflict within and among each other. There was lot of uprisings especially
in the greater Upper Nile, greater Bar-el Ghazal against the ruling state
government or the national government. As other people took up arms for the right
cause, others were busy building their estates in the foreign lands anticipating the worst to happen (surely it followed on in 2013)
Those who took up arms were either quelled or
appeased after being convinced for amnesty. Example of those arm groups that
was quelled was that of George Athor who believed that he was cheated during
the 2010 gubernatorial election by Kuol Mayang Juk, those that were appease
included the Yau-Yau rebellion demanding an autonomous administration of the
Murle People which was so.
Skirmishes continue to date where Dr. Riak is
leading a major rebellion apart from those other small arm groups like NAS, NDA
etc.
The question is why do we have this continued skirmishes within self? When I look in
the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011, I came to realize
that the local citizens are solely responsible for all continues circle of conflicts in the country.
In article 46 of TCRSS2011, I am only interested in
section 1 which says, ‘it shall be the
duty of every citizen to uphold and abide by this Constitution and respect the
laws of South Sudan’ and section 2 every citizen shall in particular; subsection b, ‘promote
peace, harmony, unity, fraternity, and tolerance among all people of South
Sudan in order to transcend ethnic, religious, geographical and political divisions;
d, prevent and combat corruption and
sabotage; j, promote democracy, good
governance and the rule of law;’
Let me break the meaning of this article open
according to my own research and understanding of the political situation of my
country South Sudan.
First of all in section 1 of article 46, it explains
that it is the duty of the citizen to uphold the Constitution against any
tendency of tramping on by any individual including the president of the
country. The constitution is the people life since it is written by the people
purposely to guide them on what to do and how to do what to be done. There is
no one above any single article of the constitution, having realized that, the
citizen should have done more to protecting and upholding the sovereignty of
the constitutions than collaborating with an individual or group of individuals
in rendering the majority of people powerless through tramping on some articles. The citizen
including me surely fail their duties and that is why we have continues circle
of conflict.
Secondly, in section 2 of this same article,
citizens are demanded to promote peace, harmony, unity, fraternity and
tolerance among all, the important word here is TOLERANCE. What should the citizen
tolerate? Corruption? War? Tribalism? What is it? NO! Citizen are to learn to live
together in diversity, have the same voice to solving problems collectively,
identify themselves as nationalist and
patriotic people of the country. Do those things happening? Certainly no!
Many people, when CPA was signed started living in
isolation eating alone (akulu barau) because they believed that they were the
heroes and heroin of the CPA2005. Spirit of inclusivity rather than exclusivity
as enshrined in the CPA2005 died together with Dr. John Garang. The citizen
created big gaps among themselves especially in land battles, between Madi and Acoli,
Acoli and Dinka, Madi and Dinka, Kuku and Madi, Kuku and Dinka, Acoli and Bari,
Bari and Madi, Bari and Dinka, no coexistence.
Not only that, citizens is instructed to PREVENT and
combat corruption and sabotage. To prevent means, do not let it happen. Or if
it happens, we should combat (fight) corruption. To me, corruption has been
possible here because we did not do enough to prevent it leave alone combating.
If today there is blame against the government on corruption allegation, the grassroots
people are responsible. Why do I say this? Why do you accept to give a traffic
police officer a bribe if the law is there? As we blame the government officials on corruption allegations, we stand accountable for promoting it even if we see or not,, part of or not. If we want to succeed in the battle, let us stop giving bribe to police, judges and any other local authority
The last area that I want to highlight is the issue
of democracy, and rule of law, can a ruling officer promote rule of law that limits him from eating, where on earth did a government say (blame itself) it is wrong when there is no rule of law?
Can you pick out a log from your eyes alone? No, it is impossible. The citizen
is the mirror for the government. Collectively, the citizen can stand up for
the truth to see that the rule of law is exercised, to see that corrupt
officials are eliminated and tried. But to this day, a citizen in the village
still celebrates the reappointment of some one accused of embezzling his 14 million USD
which was meant for your health services, for your education, for the
construction of your roads linking you to towns and cities. Where is the
nationalistic feelings and patriotism that you have as a true citizen of South
Sudan? You shouldn’t have welcomed such a corrupt person in your constituency
to shame him or her. I pity you!
To slow down, there is no doubt that citizens are
responsible for all the breakdown of this God-given beautiful Country South
Sudan. Unless we style up and understand our roles, duties as a citizen, peace
and development that we are yearning for will be an expectation.
In summary, let me cite the example of the emerging new rebel group under the leadership of Malong. To be honest, even
unborn child feels the pain caused by the leadership of Malong when he was the Army
Chief of Staff for this very country and the government that he now turns
against. If the role of a citizen is to defend the country and respond to call
for national service, then Malong’s calls for toppling the current government
that he has been defending till his removal should be a night mare or a dream
never come true. If you know your duty as a citizen, you will not be deceived
by leaders like Malong to join his forces to topple his own commander in chief
(birds of the same feather). SENSIBLY speaking, what would such a person do
different from what he has been doing? But foolishly, or blindly, we call him
King and agitate for removal of his former boss (birds of the same feather
---junubin take care)
It is never too late to revive our national spirit
and rise together as citizen of this lovely country and call it enough for
bloodshed. Let us learn from other people how they did theirs that led to tranquility
and pacification of their state and eventually sustainable development. Without
guns, we can, with gun we will not. Let us not join any person who advocate for
the settlement of violent conflict through barrel of guns especially those who
have been and are still part of the government that has led us astray to day.
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| Evangelist Ayella John Bosco |
I remain TRUTH-TELLER
Reach me on abunerry700.@gmail.com
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