By Alma Ettore,
March 30, 2016(Nyamilepedia) —— As a concerned Equatorian citizen in the UK, I want to put the record straight about the unfortunate recent postings by Charles Kisanga on the social media. Before doing so, I want to give the readers a brief background about the Equatorian Communities in the Diaspora. We thought of forming an organisation to act for the welfare of Equatorians when the SPLA –Juba started to target the Equatorians in South Sudan last year, killings, displacing and terrorising civilians. We formed the organisation to act as a mouthpiece for the Equatorians who are marginalised and rendered voiceless in their own country. When we did so, Charles Kisanga was still in the government of South Sudan and was not interested whatsoever about the marginalisation and plight of the Equatorians. He failed several times to get in touch with us when we were raising our concerns.
After some time and through hard work, our Equatorian Community in the Diaspora became unified, under one umbrella, with the same aims, objectives and vision which were spelt clearly to every one. This is why, when decisions are taken to make any statement or press release, it is not taken lightly. Each Equatorian community from different countries such as the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia sit together and formulate their communiqué, press releases , statements etc. and these will be circulated to all the leaders in the diaspora to pore over, correct and edit before anything is sent to the public domain. This is why our communications are always signed by at least 4 leaders from 4 different countries. I also want to emphasise that the Equatorian Leaders in the diaspora are people who have been locally elected by their different communities, they must be well liked and respected by their respective communities. Charles Kisanga has never been one of them.
Recently, Charles Kisanga has declared himself on the public media to be the Arrow Boys’ Chairman (He has yet to prove this), he has been issuing public statements addressing South Sudanese globally under capacity of being Chairman and commander-in-chief of SSPPF/Arrow Boys. He came to the UK in February 2016 to visit his family. He said that he wanted to meet with the Equatorians in the UK. As leaders of the Equatorian Community in the UK we thought it is not a bad idea to meet with him privately first so that we know his aims and objectives and learn more about the Arrow Boys and who they are. A meeting was conducted privately with a few Equatorian leaders representing various communities.
After the meeting, Kisanga went on Facebook and falsely declared that he is not only the Arrow Boys’ Chairman but he is our new Equatorian Leader, brushing aside genuine, honest and brave people who have formed, worked hard and managed to sustain communities for years here in the diaspora while he was gallivanting in South Sudan jumping from one camp of the SPLA to the next. One day he was in the SPLM, then he became SPLM-DC, then he became SPLM- Juba and before we blinked our eyes he jumped to SPLA/M-IO and now he became a Chairman to people called Arrow Boys who do not know who the hell Charles Kisanga is! And finally he is the “Leader of Leaders” in the Equatorian Diaspora. There is an old saying, “a leopard will never change its skin”, and the man’s behaviour is indeed mind boggling!
We then made a decision as leaders of Equatoria to severe our relationships with Charles Kisanga after his recent false and erratic postings on Facebook and other media outlets. We kept a dignified silence and spoke to Kisanga privately advising him to apologise to the group and retract his postings but he stubbornly refused.
Now Charles Kisanga has found himself a sole shepherd without sheep, because his sheep are too smart and clever for his clumsy handling. If he continues in this fashion his 500+ Facebook followers will be less than 5. He will have to return back to his good old engineering job if they will take him back and look after his long suffering family. Leadership is not something that you buy, design, lie about or force. Leadership is something that is earned, through selflessness, sacrifice, fortitude, giving and putting others first. I hope Charles Kisanga has watched the Great Pope of Rome on TV wash and kiss the migrants’ feet on Easter Day. The Pope wants to give a message to “wannabe” leaders by hooks or crooks like Charles Kisanga “If you want to be a leader be a servant”.
I want to give Kisanga this message: The Equatoria Community in the Diaspora is a solid and dignified community led by wise and intelligent leaders. When you started threatening to cause us harm after we threw you out from among us you thought that you can go on social media and tarnish our reputation by your false postings and egoistic ramblings while using our image to insult your enemies but I want you to know one thing: We are UK citizens and are protected by the UK laws. You are a self- proclaimed rebel. You have already put our lives at risk by your false allegations. The UK government will not blink an eye to protect its citizens especially when you are trying to terrorise members of its community so I ask you to kindly stop referring in the Equatoria community or any community in the UK or the diaspora. Speak for yourself only.
As for the other threat you are posing to Equatorians, it is a shame about your statement that there are no SPLA-IO cantonment areas in Equatoria. You are a very selfish person with a huge empty ego. By saying that there are no cantonment areas in Equatoria, you have walked roughshod on the dead bodies of all the brave Equatorians who have died defending their country and you are denying the rights of those who are currently under fire from both the SPLA – Juba and their Nuer/ Shilluk colleagues.
These brave men and women have worked hard to form an opposition to a marauding government soldiers. These Equatorians have defended my family and yours; why are you denying their existence and taking away the cause they died for while putting the lives of others at risk? If you want to be a Dinka slave, go back to Salva Kiir and JCE to give you a position, why don’t you just go straight to them? You need to go and see a psychiatrist to fix your loose wires.
In conclusion, I want to say that the leaders of Equatoria in the Diaspora are a group of humble, well- balanced, well-educated and skilful people from all walks of life. These leaders speak for the whole of Equatoria with one voice and a unified vision. They also want to maintain a good and well- balanced relationship with all parties opposed to the government of South Sudan including the SPLA-IO
A lone wolf such as Charles Kisanga who has no vision, direction or aim will never be able to tarnish or disunite our organisation. We will strive to pull out any person who wants to use our name to better himself or herself, because we stand as a solid unified and fighting majority.
Alma Ettore is a member of Equatorian Community in United Kingdom, he can be reached through almaettore@gmail.com
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3 comments
Equatorial please don’t jump on fire you have seen what happened to so call Nuer white army and Shilluk malitia, so go ahead and try if you want .
Mr. Chol,
We as Equatorian are present and will defend our our ancestral land to the last men and last drop of our blood, please you visit us in Wonduroba, Kupera, Magwi, Mundri, Yambio, Narous, Kopoeta.
Apparently Charles seemingly is a C+C without any existing cantonement(s) to make matters worst, he is claiming leadership of Equatorian Diaspora communities. Most if not all diaspora communities of South Sudan including those of Equatoria observes democratic cultures of instituting elections and vote in their community representatives to the board membership. I think Charles has reached a pivotal moment. The SSPPF popularily known as Arrow Boys which is also the group currently active in the great Equatoria Region a part from (IO) and an attested alliance of SPLA/M(IO) recently not long after this article was aired publicly came out with an statement disavowing Charles Kassinga.Unfortunately, the sign on this road Charles is on spelled DEAD END.