By Tor Madira Machier
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OPINION – This afternoon, July 25, 2021, five Bentiu Community ‘elders’ came to the public issuing a ridiculous statement rejecting the outcome of the democratic elections conducted on Friday, July 23rd 2021 in which Bentiu Community citizens freely exercised their right to elect leaders as our tenure ended after a year of selfless service to our people in the Arab Republic of Egypt.
In the statement hypocritically titled ‘condemnation of the recently conducted partial BCA elections’ the so-called ‘elders’ claimed that: (1) the election committee denied two of the seven counties of Unity state of their right to participate in the election, (2) they are neutral in the mediation which they have failed to conclude for over a year, and eventually, (3) claimed that they did not call Egyptian security operatives with the purpose to interrupt the process and who briefly held myself briefly for investigation of what was reported by my own brothers as a ‘criminal’ activity.
In light of those claims by the group of five men, I will go briefly to explain to the Bentiu Community sons who are not in Egypt particularly because they have been misled by the group of these so-called elders.
First, the issue started immediately after elections when we were elected into office in July 2020. There was an article within the Bentiu Community Constitution which states that anyone who is a member of the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit shall be excluded from the Bentiu Community as they are called ‘blood-suckers’ and ‘traitors’. This article was not introduced when the civil war broke out in December 2013, but when Vice-president Taban Deng Gai decided to stay in Juba following the infamous July 2016 fighting at J1 after which Dr. Riek Machar, then First Vice President, was replaced, bide a presidential decree, with Taban Deng Gai. In fact, this article was meant to target a politician in the person of Taban Deng Gai who wished to disagree, politically and which is a right under the Republic of South Sudan constitution, with Riek Machar because it was introduced after his defection from the SPLM-IO.
As a matter of fact, citizens should not be discriminated within the communities because of political affiliations. The December 2013 conflict has affected all citizens of the Republic of South Sudan and in the interest of the future of our children, we shouldn’t promote hatred within the society when the very same politicians, Riek Machar and Taban Deng, are now eating in the same plate in Juba and First Vice President and Vice President within the same government.
As a result of the article above, 80% of the members of Jikany Gatkek Community in Egypt were excluded from the Bentiu Community Association elections in 2017; a year after the constitution was amended to inject the dividing and hostile article by certain individuals who happened to be at the helm of Bentiu Community in 2016. In 2019, Tor Malual Wun, the son of the renowned Unity state chief, was elected as the Chairman of the Bentiu Community Association and because of his quest for unity among the Bentiu Community sons irrespective of their political affiliation, he decided to consult the elders if the polarizing article should be removed from the constitution because Riek Machar has signed a peace agreement with Salva Kiir and was going to make it to the very same government of ‘blood-suckers’ (as they call them) as a vice-president for the third time since the Republic of South Sudan became an independence state, and for the fourth time since 2005.
The ‘elders’ called upon a meeting of the seven sub-communities and a consensus was reached that each county go to consult its citizens if they either want that article to be removed or kept. They were told to communicate their votes in writing as it was not possible for large gatherings in Egypt and anywhere in the world because of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. This was in the sense that if majority (or 4 counties) voted to remove the article, then the article will be removed. If the majority is to vote otherwise, then the article shall remain. Few weeks later, five of the seven counties wrote to the Bentiu Community elders and the leadership of Tor Malual expressing their unwavering desire to remove the dividing article. One of the counties wrote to keep the article and one more county abstained.
The Bentiu Community Executive Board and the Council, upon the recommendations of the Counties and in presence of the elders, decided to amend the constitution to remove the hostile article stating that all Bentiu sons are equal before the constitution and that it was a social organization that has nothing to do with political affiliations. This means that no one shall be excluded because he belongs to Taban Deng or Riek Machar or even Salva Kiir because Bentiu Community Association is not a political party otherwise it would be hard for a South Sudanese political party to operate in Egypt.
After that, the board of Tor Malual finished its tenure and elections were called, I was elected as Secretary-General and James Maker Gai was elected as the Chairman. Some of the elders were appointed as members of the Bentiu Community leadership.
As we were forming our executive board, two counties stated that they will not be part of the Bentiu Community Association during our tenure because they want the old article which provides for exclusion of anyone belonging to the government of President Salva Kiir. With this, we called a meeting and five of the counties said they won’t either be part of our tenure if the article dividing people is to be returned and the other communities stuck to their demand of keeping the article.
So, we went on to form the executive board and almost immediately, we formed a committee to look into the grievances of the two counties, but the process could not bear fruits as both sides, five communities on one side and the two on the other, were intransigent and not ready to compromise based the arguments they presented. Throughout the year, the Bentiu Community Board always includes the two counties whenever there is a meeting or function. We don’t exclude them and this is simply because we respect them and believe that they are an integral part of the Bentiu Community no matter the intensity of the disagreement. We used the approach that brothers disagree, but at the end of the day, we return home because it is where we belong and we believe that there are much more that bind us together than the things that tear us apart.
That mediation by the elders went on for a full year and as our tenure was coming to an end, we called a meeting of the seven sub-communities of Bentiu (including those who have refused to work with us though out the year) to decide on whether we are going to vote by delegates in the elections or by popular voting systems. Five counties say we should go by delegates as large gatherings are banned in Egypt because of the coronavirus pandemic. One community said it won’t express anything because they were still outside the community unless their grievances were addressed. The seventh community leader was not in the meeting.
We said ok, let’s call a meeting under the elders again and see if we can understand each other. We did that because we wanted all the Bentiu sons to participate in the democratic process including those who have been outside the community for a year and maybe, they can elect someone who may return cooperates with them in the way they wanted. A meeting was called and the two counties said they won’t be a part of the election process unless the constitution was amended. The elders themselves advised the two counties that they shouldn’t stick to something that divide the Bentiu Community because of political affiliations, but they didn’t accept yet and the leaders themselves gave us green light to conduct elections because they had exhausted all their efforts to reconcile the community.
We then formed an electoral committee and elections were called for July 9th, the day our country became 10 years since independence. The nomination was open, no one was excluded and the two counties were also not barred from nominating someone. As it was becoming clear that the elections was going to be conducted on Friday, July 9, 2021, the elders went to the house of the head of the election committee and persuaded him to postpone the election under the pretext that someone had passed on in Juba and elections should not be conducted in Egypt. We accepted that because based on our traditions, celebrations or elections should not be conducted when someone is having a problem or has died the community though there is no law or article providing for that in our constitution. However, we didn’t know that the person who passed away was being used by the elders as a strategy to impede and delay elections for interests best known to them.
Elections were rescheduled for July 16, 2021. However, the elders requested from us that let’s meet the two communities again on the day the elections were set for. We accepted and the elections were rescheduled for July 23. When the people met on July 16, the communities agreed that they will participate in the process and the election committee was asked to open the gate for nomination once again so that if the two communities had a candidate, they can bring the candidate in.
The election committee then opened the door for nomination and in fact, one candidate from one of the two communities emerged and was accepted. 30 minutes into the end of the nomination process, the candidate told the elections committee that he has decided to withdraw from the race and all his money which he paid as a nomination fee should be redirected to another person he said was the last person they now nominate. The elections committee agreed and diverted the money to the new person they brought as the nominee.
One night before the elections, the elders came in with the intention to sabotage the relative peace that the community had reached and went to the community where the first candidate who dropped out of race came from and told them that how come you bought a person from Rubkona County when the door was opened for you only. They advised the community to withdraw and bring their person in again.
The election committee refused the latest condition because the election process was not a joke for anyone to decide when he declares to run and when to exit. When the request was made to bring in the person who was accepted in the first place, but withdrew in the interest of another candidate at the last minute was refused, the elders accused us – we the executive board – falsely of telling the election board to reject the person from the other community. In the interest of peace and our quest for unity, we compromised and called a meeting with the election committee and requested them, both in writing and verbally, to accept the candidate for the sack of peace and unity of the Bentiu Community in Egypt. This was done after the five communities accepted to compromise on the latest condition.
The request was accepted by the peace-loving election committee and they requested the other candidate to bring in his documents. The candidate brought his documents and the hypocrite ‘elders’ once again were not pleased. We didn’t know that the issue has moved from being between the two communities and the five communities mediated by the elders, to between the elders and the executive board until we knew that they were also not happy when the two communities joined the unity of the people of Unity State.
On Election Day, we were peaceful and the elders were ready to come, however, were surprised that the two communities issued separate statements expressing their unwillingness to participate in the elections in the last minute. The elders also refused to come and in the mid of the elections, they informed Egyptian security forces of an ‘unlawful’ rally being done by us. The security forces came and disrupted the process and expelled us from the election hall. I was kept by the security forces for 30 minutes interrogating myself on why we were doing a political thing without their permission. I then explained to them that what we were doing was not political and has nothing to do with politics. I showed them the Bentiu Community Association Constitution which states that the organization is social and non-political organization. After they gathered all the necessary facts surrounding our activity, they released me and a cleric and then the election proceeded in peace. Thanks to the understanding of the Egyptian security forces who refused to be misled.
Dear Bentiu Community citizens, this is the whole story and I went that deep because I want everyone to understand how the ‘elders’ have come a long way causing problems among the sons and daughters of the Bentiu Community Association in the name of political organizations. They want to divide our people because of Taban Deng and Riek Machar who are in Juba working in the same government. So, in my capacity as an outgoing member of the Bentiu Community Executive Board, and my own capacity as a citizen of the green oil-rich Unity state, I am presenting you these facts to judge, if I am wrong on anything that I have said, the elders are free to response.
Tor Madira Machier is a journalist and the outgoing Secretary-General of the Bentiu Community Association in the Arab Republic of Egypt. He can be reached via: tormadira2013@gmail.com.
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