By Sirir Gabriel Yiei Rut,
July 17, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — I have come to understand who we are as south Sudanese. We are a society so caught up in material possessions to the extent that what we possess, defines who we are and how important we are perceived to be in society.
Because of this, what we can acquire or take from others and not what we can give has become our sole purpose in life. This demeans who we are.
Our ideals as a society have become so infatuated with power, not to exercise it to the benefit of society, but as a means to an end; a means to merely own, to control, to have, to take, to feared and, therefore, to feel important. In the event that we are unable to do that, we use any means possible as long as we get what we want. Because, if we can’t have it, we perceive ourselves or are perceived by others as “nobodies”.
Unfortunately, this incessant fixation with material gain has permeated all sectors our society, be it in politics or business or even personal relationships or religion, it is always “what can I get out of this?” and not “how can I add value and be a service to others?” “Who is she or he” they asked? What does she have?”
The implication to us, are that may not be able to achieve our full developmental aspirations as a nation and improve the quality of life of ordinary south Sudanese simply because our priorities are in the wrong place.
How can we do that went our leadership’s primary concern is their stomachs? For example, where the possession of multiple farms is more important than food production where our minerals resources are taken and controlled by cabal whose only concern is the size of cars they drive.
South Sudanese in general now mimic their political masters and this has resulted not only killing and displacement of thousands people and misallocation of scarce resource, but sheer waste of the country’s resources that could be other wise deployed to ameliorate our socio-economic condition. Position, power, control has become the opium of the people.
My idea of a new Federal Republic of south Sudan is based on us first ensuring that we have new leadership values in politics. We must see a completely new narrative about who we are, what is important and who we can become.
This narrative will not arise out of the blue, or from chanting party slogans, but can only be as a result of the emergency of that new leadership in south Sudan. We need a deliberate social transformation agenda that looks beyond ownership of assets or indigenization as the panache at all our problems.
The foundations upon which we must build our future cannot be based on the gratification of our voracity. We are more than we can ever imagine and our focus on material things and the gratification of egos demeans our values as a society when we spend our energy focusing on acquiring, on taking and selfishness, we somehow lose our true humanity. The politics of possession can here take us where we ought to be as a country.
I am much afraid of our politicians and the political deals which I hear are and being made. These accommodations are mainly geared to satisfy egos, to satisfy taking, owning, possessing, position and not those things that matter to ordinary south Sudanese.
How wretched we are!
I pray that God will continue to release His wisdom upon us, so that we as a country with unimaginable potential can redefine what is truly important. I believe one fine day, in steal of a night, freedom will come.
The author is a student of political science living in Cairo- Egypt. He can be easily be reach through his Email address: sirirgabrielyiei3@gmail.com or Tel: +201115133229.
