Zachariah Kuol Deng: The Unsung Hero and Great Friend of Students and Youth in South Sudan
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This article was first published on 5th October, 2019 at Agamlong Daily Newspaper and is being republished here for wider circulation and readership in celebration of the great legacy of Zachariah Kuol Kwei, the great friend of students and youth in the Republic of South Sudan.
By Jok WaMonychok, Juba, South Sudan
Wednesday, September 09, 2020 (PW) – Perhaps the most difficult part of this article for others who are going to know the man I am writing about is that, this title does not describe with exactness the greatness of the man. My hope is that as you continue reading, many more deserving titles will be developed.
This article is an excerpt from the interview for my writing I had with him, which I plan to print as a short biography very soon. As I listened to the audio, I felt the urgency to share the information with others who may be inspired by him.
I became so close to the unsung hero who has humbly and silently won many names among students and youth when I became an executive in the students’ association where he humbly dedicated his connection, time, experience, resources, and advice.
I will refer to the subject as Kuol Kuei, the name he is commonly known by the family, friends, and the community. Kuei is his mother’s name. His father, Sultan Deng Majok, the most diplomatic and wisest Ngok Dinka paramount chief was polygamous and thus had several sons bearing the name of Kuol. They are therefore identified with the names of their mothers. He was however named by his father as Zachariah when he was in the same class with other two half-brotherssharing the same name with him.
“This son of mine will be called Zachariah,” said his beloved father. And so to confirm the divinity of his father’s tongue, Kuol Kuei is a devoted Christian.
“The people of Abyei in particular and the people of South Sudan in general have had manifestations of God’s grace. When we used to see and hear our brothers being taken to slaughter houses, the only thing that came to our minds was God. We therefore need to have him close to us for a peaceful and prosperous nation,” he says.
Kuol Kuei grew up having many great men around and as a result, they became his role models. He grew up in royal family that necessitated good qualities of leadership and thus, the first role models are his father and half-brother, Dr. Francis MadingDeng. His other elder half-brother, Charles Biongdit also became his role model and the most influential to him.
In one of Dr. John Garang’s visits to the US, he had the honor to have him under his care and was able to know a lot from the Icon of Liberation. In his meeting with Dr. John Garang, he said: “You resemble my father in many aspects of your wisdom and leadership. The only difference is that you are educated, but my father was not.”
Dr. John Garang rebuked him, saying: “your father ruled with wisdom from God that we cannot match at our time. He handled situations that those of us who are doctorate holders cannot handle. Don’t undermine him again.” Dr. John Garang then asked him to have an American citizenship because he was not interested, saying: “if you have the influence to bring a doctor to treat Mama Rebecca in her hotel room, we need your influence to extend back home. This will happen if you have become American citizen. This liberation will take time.”
Mama Rebecca had fallen seriously ill and Kuol Kuei managed to bring a doctor to her hotel for treatment. The following day, she conducted meetings. This amazed Dr. John who said this influence Kuol had consolidated was not attainable during their time in the US.
He expressed his discontent to Dr. John Garang about the wealth distribution, which gives Ngok Dinka and Misseriya equal percentage of oil share. He asked: “Don’t you think giving Misseriya equal rights with Ngok Dinka substantiates their claim on Abyei?”
“Misseriya are Sudanese and when it comes to natural resources, giving Ngok Dinka bigger share, for instance, 10% while Misseriya with 5% will damage the reputation of SPLM manifesto, which we base on equality.” Garang convincingly answered him.
Kuol Kuei is the owner of Air Juba Aviation Company. The company was established in 2006 when he co-founded it with two other businessmen from Malaysia. The three of them were the Board of Directors until the conflict erupted in December 2013 and the two Malaysians left because of insecurity. They never returned. He has suffered much injustice in term of winning the contracts, but still leaves it with God, saying he should have forwarded his complaint to President Salva Kiir, but he feels that the president is a man with many burdens that should not be bothered with simple matters as this.
I offered my compliments and appreciations for his participation in services delivery and nation building. Air transport is the only mean of reaching one’s destination during rainy season. This becomes an act of patriotism and good faith when there are citizens who identify the problems facing the people and come up with the solutions. Kuol Kuei rejects those compliments. He feels that it is his duty as a citizen to make life easier for his compatriots.
“Those who expect appreciation and reward are the people causing chaos when they are not given what they expect. It’s everyone’s duty to serve the nation and expect nothing in return,” he wisely put it.
Despite having American passport, Kuol Kuei does not think of going back to the US when things are going rough here in South Sudan. He prefers helping resolve the situation to going abroad.
“If we could all run away to safety abroad, who would change this country? South Sudan is our country all the times – in good and bad times. And if it should be a peaceful country, we should work for it,” he says it with dedication and patriotism as an advice to those who leave the country when conflict erupts.
The starting point in Kuol Kuei’s contribution towards struggle for the South Sudanese people occurred when he facilitated a televised investigative report into Human Rights violations in the Sudan by Themes Television of UK in Hai Yusif and Omdurman.
During Jaafar Nimeiri’s regime, Sharia Law was introduced for the first time in the Sudan. Kuol Kuei and other Southerners weren’t happy because all those whose arms and legs were shoved off were Southerners. The bases for shoving off the arms and legs were against International Law. He took part in the investigation and when it was broadcast in the UK with his identity not hidden, his life was in constant danger. He was arrested and when he was released, he had to sneak to Saudi Arabia with the help of a family friend.
In Saudi Arabia, Kuol Kuei and others established SPLM/Aoffice in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia with Daniel Kodi as the overall chairman for the Middle East. Daniel Kodi, a Nubian later disappointed them by defecting to Khartoum, but KuolKuei and his comrades relentlessly continued with the mission. They used it for mobilization of funds from the Southerners working there to buy boots, khakis, cameras, and other military materials. They also helped in liaison, which led to the visits of SPLM/A religious committees to Saudi Arabia during the war.
Kuol Kuei’s life is decorated with self-sacrifice and dedication to his country, making him a man with glamourouscontributions, which he modestly considers as what every citizen should do. In exercise of his God-given quality(leadership), he represented National Democratic Alliance(NDA) at American University in Egypt. And together with his comrades, they wrote to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, coordinating the visit of Dr. John Garang and SPLM/A delegation in 1997. This paved a tremendous start to the good relations between the Egyptian government and the movementthat we enjoy until today.
When he resettled in the US where he pursued his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics at Phoenix University, he was elected as the Chairman of SPLM/A in Arizona, the state with the highest number of South Sudanese from 2004 to 2006 until he was asked by the then SPLM/A Secretary General, Pagan Amum to come back to South Sudan for SPLM.
“This is where I appreciate comrade Pagan for bringing me backhome. But I should tell him you had brought me to help develop our country, but you have left us. It is high time you come back for us to develop this country together.”
Kuol Kuei was sent to Greater Bahr el Ghazal in 2006 as SPLM Deputy Director for Political Mobilization under late Marko Chol Maciec who was the director. He did most of the mobilization as his boss was out for treatment. For those who were in Greater Bahr el Ghazal, you can remember how SPLM became deeply felt and connected with the people’s hearts. The party became personally owned by everyone as it was transformed from a guerilla movement to a political party capable of delivering services. I vividly remember a joke my friend usually made on the theme written on the T-shirt: “Join SPLM Now!”
“My people, is it by force?” he comically put it whenever someone wearing the T-shirt passed by.
To summarize this important article, Kuol Kuei is the unsung hero. A man who despite earning numerous positive adjectives because of his hard work, patriotism, affability, humility, and age continues to be a friend to students and youth, the category of citizens known for “boring people with their constant naggings.” He is cheaply available to students and youth and he does not need a letter or invitation card to attend a meeting or social gathering. A word of mouth or phone call is enough for him.
Kuol Kuei has the virtue of calling back if he hasn’t answered your call and start apologizing, explaining why he hasn’t pick the call. This is the rarest respect that a student whose calls are constantly shunned by even the closest relatives can get at the time when the cacophonous cries of help are the order of the day. The students and youth alike are traumatized by hardship. They need guidance and supervision. They need support, care, and acknowledgement. Kuol Kuei does all these. He looks at your feet to see if you came to him on foot. He asks how students are pushing with studies. To students, he is a brother, uncle, teacher, leader, and above all, the godfather.
Jok WaMonychok is a graduand of Economics at Catholic University of South Sudan. He is a Business Strategist and the author of upcoming novel, The Twisted Destiny. He is reachable via jokwamonychok@gmail.com
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