South Sudan: A Nation Smothering in Chaos and Languishing in Anarchy

By Adanna Ajuong, Juba, South Sudan

Wednesday, 20 July 2022 (PW) — Friends, fellow countrymen and women, we always talk of an independent South Sudan. But this imputation comes short of the true meaning of independence and of an independent country, as confirmed by the recent developments and situation regarding the collaboration of our so-called government and its members with the Egyptian government and its spies in our country in a deliberate and insidious effort to strip our country of her sovereignty and independence. 

To be an independent country, a nation ought to be endued with a legitimate, responsible and accountable leadership – a leadership that derives its authority from the people and exercises that authority in accordance with the supreme laws of the land as stipulated and mandated in the national constitution– a government that views responsibility as solemn and sacred and readily submits itself to the indulgences of the people, especially when found deficient and negligent in properly executing the national will and an administration that put the interest of the people and of the nation above all.

In over 60 years– the troubled years that precipitated the creation of our country, we haven’t had and perhaps may not in our lifetime have any government that has the legitimacy to govern, that accounts to the people, that voluntarily and solemnly carries the burdens of the nation and genuinely works for the attainment and security of liberty and prosperity of the people.

We have had a long repeated history of attempts and successes to cajole, subjugate and dominate the common people by different personalities and military cabals who professed to have a common cause and a relationship with the people but who, when elevated by the people to the pinnacle of power, soon became arrogant and ungrateful, forgot the contributions of and negated the rights of the people, and thus made themselves the new masters and the people their new subjects.

That is the tragedy that this nation experienced and endured under the evil charms and spells of the Anyanya, whose sole objective was not the elevation of the people but the attainment of power and its benefits. The common people are once again ushered into a similar path to their own self-destruction and ruin under a new leadership led by the SPLM– a political organisation that is not less hostile and antipathetic to the common people than the Anyanya.

In 39 years under the SPLM, the people have undergone a whirlwind of political and so-economic traumas and chaotic periods that presented them with new realities and conditions they have never imagined and witnessed before in the long history of their existence in the following fashions.

The SPLM has negated the contributions and rights of the people; It has, instead of people’s rights and interests, instituted monarchy and dictatorship of one man and one party over the people and has deprived them of the right to elect and remove their representatives and transferred and bestowed that basic right upon presidency undermining the power of the people to govern themselves through their representatives.

Under the SPLM, the presidency has successfully conspired against and undermined the sacredness and effectiveness of the parliament by directly appointing individuals hostile to the interests of the common people but readily submissive to the wishes of the presidency.

The SPLM leadership and its associate parties, such as the SPLM-IO et cetera, have tampered with the states’ rights to elect and remove their governments and governors; They are guilty of appointing governors’ insolent and opposed to the people but loyal and submissive alone to their policies.

The SPLM and associate parties oversee, mastermind, and orchestrate a widespread corruption that saps our nation’s strength and growth, resulting in the impoverishment of ninety-nine per cent of our population and the enrichment of the other one per cent.

Under the SPLM rule, we have witnessed the interposition of foreign rule and greed on South Sudanese in the sense that the families of most leaders in the SPLM and associate parties are naturalized citizens of other countries and thus pledge their allegiance of loyalty, not to South Sudan and South Sudanese, but to foreign countries and people.

The SPLM leadership has also neglected national education– the only means indispensable for the diffusion and propagation of scientific and technological knowledge–by sending and educating of the children of the party leaders to foreign countries. The SPLM leadership undermines our nation’s economy and security in the sense that it has pillaged our country’s resources and invested them in foreign countries.

The SPLM censors stifle and undermines the freedom of expression, press and journalism as stipulated in the constitution and as needed to ensure the counterbalance of contrary views and opinions of the citizens because it’s fatally fearful of the freedom of speech and opinion and thus embarks on extrajudicial kidnapping and killing of journalists, civil activists and watchdogs both within and outside the country.

The SPLM has encouraged and fostered the growth of tribal tendencies and polarisation that undermines the national cohesion and unity among the citizens. This has resulted in inter-communal strife and conflicts. The SPLM and its members have weakened the military by starving the servicemen and pursuing endless wars to ensure the long survival of their reign. This undermines the ability of the nation to defend itself and assert its rights in case of foreign aggression.

The SPLM is moreover guilty of making concessions and capitulating to the wishes and demands of foreign countries and undermining our national integrity and sovereignty by allowing and tolerating the gradual encroachment onto our borders by the neighbouring countries.

The SPLM has desecrated the constitutional mandate that ensures a peaceful transition of power from one administration to another by tolerating and fostering mass rebellions, negotiating with, and accommodating rebels in the government from time to time. This undermines the majesty of the constitution and emboldens future rebels to treacherously launch rebellions in the hope that our nation is generous and tolerant enough to entertain rebellions and uprisings and accommodate rebels and traitors within our borders without severe punishments.

The SPLM has terrorized the citizenry into submission to dictatorship by mobilising and deploying the security and armed forces near civilian settlements in villages, towns, and cities. This act of terrorism is an open declaration of war and imposition of tyranny on the people.

The SPLM knocks on foreign doors and begs for foreign aid and donations to solve national problems. This behaviour is a sell-out of the country’s proud image: A free and independent country ought to derive its means of survival and growth from the toils and talents of its citizens, not from the generosity of foreign nations. If the SPLM has miserably failed in relieving the country from its woes and delivering services to the citizens, it needs to step aside and leave the summit of leadership to a new generation of leaders.

Kiir and his ministers have interfered with the judicial system by appointing loyalists submissive to his wishes to judicial offices. This undermines the judicial independence of courts.  Kiir and his ministers bypass legislative proceedings and approvals required for matters of great importance. This insolence to and contempt for the legislature is confirmed by the recent development regarding the attempted dredging of the Nile without any prior consultation and backing of the parliament.

Kiir and his administration have abused executive prerogatives and privileges: He has filled all public offices with his loyalists, relatives, and friends. This blatant act is tantamount to the institution of a monarchy– the rule of one man and his family over many. Kiir and his loyalists are guilty of amassing an astronomical wealth and investing it in the neighbouring countries and beyond the region and continent.  This tendency has impoverished the nation and placed the wealth of the nation in the hands of few families resulting in wealth inequality and creating new social classes of the poor and the rich.

Under the SPLM’s watch, the safety and security of citizens are deliberately neglected. The criminals and bandits are at large harassing, murdering, and terrorizing our citizens in villages and towns: none feels safe in this country–not even in Juba.

The foreigners are also at large and have become the new partners of the SPLM in robbing and impoverishing the citizenry; our borders are insecure and have been breached by foreigners who now settle among us, cultivate our lands, control our economy, own passports pertaining their being our citizens, exploit our citizens and disrupt our ways of life and cultures by bringing strange cultures and customs different from ours into our borders.

Meanwhile, we, the citizens, have long witnessed the deliberate violation of our rights, imposition of division and tyranny on the citizenry and subsequent occurrence of a series of controversies and abuses in the public offices; our only solace was in silence. Fellow citizens, there’s a price to pay for pointing out the treacherous deeds and deficiencies of the SPLM, but it’s an honour to make our voices heard.

It’s dishonourable to be silent, especially when there’s more to lose than gain from an unjustified silence and fear of the SPLM. Besides, Patriotism demands from each one of us the courage and outspokenness to confront the evil that divides and weakens our country– the courage to oppose the dredging of the Nile and the courage to hold to account the treasonous individuals who have collaborated with the enemy country to ensure the initiation and completion of the dredging of the Nile and construction of Jonglei Canal.

Nonetheless, the issue of dredging the Nile should not engross as much as there are other matters of relevance that require the same degree of scrutiny as dredging.

Finally, we need not forget that this nation demands accountability and responsibility from Kiir and his cronies for the imposition of endless suffering, social disharmony, tyrannical tendencies, and avarice upon the nation: The nation demands an end to thuggery and dictatorship and calls for accountability and respect for the rule of law and for individual rights.

It calls for ensuring the security and safety of our citizens, for the upholding of our national sovereignty and integrity, for investment into our education system and an end to sending and educating our youths abroad and lastly, an end to the illegal investment of our national resources in foreign countries.

The author, Adanna Ajuong, is a concerned South Sudanese citizen who can be reached via his email: adannaajuong@gmail.com.

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