Yien Wil Mayuak Nyoch
Hawassa, Ethiopia — In that infant Country, Junub Sudan whose independence was the result of the sacrifices of our heroes and heroines, an independence which we are all proud of, politics has engulfed the whole country and everyone in the Country is a politician. You always get a big NO when dealing with someone whose political interest differs from yours even if what you are saying is right while you always get a big YES when dealing with someone whose political interest is similar to yours even if what you are saying is wrong. With such a scenario, the country is confused and those who cannot see beyond their sights are severely affected leading them to hardly differentiate the lie from truth. Politics and corruption have colonized everyone in the Country and hence, people have become dependent on politics and money where every inch of their actions is determined by their political interest or where they benefit from. Everyone in the country including those in power is confused. This confusion has induced inconsistency in people’s ideology where they frequently change in their ideology like chameleons. Our people nowadays can’t remember what they said yesterday and this for instance is the perpetrator of the political prostitution our people go through.
Junubin today due to the mental traumatization among them induced by the current civil war have gotten fragile memories where they can’t even remember what they said an hour ago nor can they remember who the friend or enemy of the country is. Politics has done so because counterfeiting has become the prominent habit of those who call themselves politicians, the best strategy they consider as the threshold for perplexing the whole population so that corruption which is benefiting only few individuals cannot be abolished. We are all confused and we don’t know where we are going. The only man who is still consistent with his ideology is my hero, Dr. Riek Machar Teny. The deficit of appropriate education qualifications among Junubin politicians is among the core causes of all the messes confronting the country. Lack of appropriate education to me is the cause of bad leadership practice at all levels of the government in our country. Most or all the politicians who are currently serving in different levels of the government are the ones with the bush brains. After the end of the civil war in 2005, most Junubin who are now holding political posts moved from bushes directly to offices and none was given any training about development, good leadership practice and peace building. It is the bush brains that are ruling our country now and there is no other ideology among those politicians instead of the futile oyeeee whose right duration was the time of war against the North.
With their bush brains, our politicians don’t know how to develop the country; they only know how to spend a lot of money in hotels owned by foreigners. They are buying expensive cars without roads. They are holding big positions like ministries with their bush brains and hence, the first thing one does after taking oath is sending his family abroad and looking for communities to collide against each other. It would be better if the bush brains of those who were our heroes by then were exposed to different leadership training so that killing which was what used to take place between them and the Arabs be abolished in their minds, but no one can do so because the H.E is someone with the bush brain himself. So the bush brain politicians are comfortable with bush brain dictatorial leadership because they are allowed to loot as much as they can. The only man with consistent vision and ambition among them is Dr. Riek Machar Teny.
Is Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon a great leader?
We the fools, I mean a few intellectuals, a few politicians, a few high ranking military generals, most of the soldiers and almost all the rural people of South Sudan are ideologically contradicting to the wise, I mean most of the politicians, most of the intellectuals, most of the high ranking military general and a few soldiers when it comes to the questions about whether Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon is a good or a bad leader. We the fools think of Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon as a great leader while the wise think of Dr. Riek as a traitor, what a contradiction? Foolishness according to Junubin who call themselves wise at this contemporary time is when you stand with truth even if the truth can’t benefit you financially while wisdom is when you support a lie that can benefit you and your family financially. According to this situation, we fools are getting poorer and poorer while the wise are getting richer and richer. We the fools are starving, suffering from diseases and confinement while the wise are looting a lot of dollars, enjoying hotels, sending their families abroad for luxurious life and touring so many luxurious countries.
As someone among the fool Junubin who think of Dr. Riek as a great leader, I call Dr. Riek a great leader and I have the reasons I call him a great leader like any other fool out there. Every time I try to talk about the legacy of Dr. Riek, the wise jump onto my neck asking me about the proof of Dr. Riek’s legacy. I used to keep quiet not because I can’t give them the proof of Dr. Riek’s legacy, but because I don’t want to talk about the legacy that is obvious to everyone, concealed by corruption on the sight of the wise. There is a wise lady, a politician whose name I will not disclose who used to ask me several times about Dr. Riek’s legacy, I use to keep quiet because I don’t want to talk about what is obvious. I have ultimately decided to come up with the reasons I call Dr. Riek a great leader based on a true history of the struggle of our country. My reasons about his legacy are based on my repertoire of all I used to hear about him as I grew up and all I have witnessed recently. There is no plagiarism about what I will come up with, no copy because I don’t like copying other people’s ideas, but if I copy someone’s idea as there is a need for, I mention and acknowledge the person with that idea. I believe that the wise will read this piece of article with a mixed reaction, but I don’t because this piece is not intended to convert the wise to fool. The article is intended to strengthen the fools so that they will be able to remain fools and boycott to be vexed by the wise for this foolishness as it is the only way for the brighter future of South Sudan.
Before I start to list down the reasons I call Dr. Riek a great leader, let me tell you this. If we call Dr. John Garang the father of nation, the man whose ambition was for a united Sudan which was contradicting the self-determination ideology of Dr. Riek; the idea which gave birth to the independent South Sudan, then I call Dr. Riek Machar the uncle of the nation. It is not wrong for Dr. John to be given the credit by being called the father of the nation because he formed SPLM/A which fought bravely against the regime in the North, but if it is a wrong for the country to have two fathers, then Dr. Riek is the uncle of the nation. Dr. Riek is a great leader for several reasons which can be listed and explained in a very short and precise manner as follow:
Dr. Riek is a visionary leader
He is the man of vision. The independence of South Sudan in 2011 proved to us that Dr. Riek is the man of vision. His self-determination ideology was what lured the Arabs in the North with the simple trick which was mentioned in the CPA in 2005 that the people of South Sudan will decide whether Sudan had to be divided or not which happened in 2011 when referendum was conducted by the South Sudanese. Fortunately, the people of South Sudan in 2011 voted in a very good number for secession which resulted in the independence of South Sudan on July 9, 2011. It was his vision that gave us the country, yet the wise can’t recognize this contribution for our people. Only fools like me recognize this great contribution.
The Nasir declaration in 1991 was what made us independent and everyone knows that by only a few talks about it. Through the right of self-determination, Dr. Riek envisioned an independent South Sudan. Dr. Riek initiated that tremendous idea, but if you try to talk about this in the presence of the people who call themselves wise, they will jump onto your neck by coming up with counterfeit histories created to confuse the people of South Sudan whose votes were the threshold for the independent South. The wise people are the looters who have intended to enjoy the country’s wealth leaving the people of South Sudan in the worst situation. Dr. Riek is among a few Junubin who cannot steal money nor can he be bribed. He can see beyond wealth and to him, an independent, democratic, prosperous and peaceful nation is everything.
Dr. Riek is a brave and a patient leader
This leader has two important characteristics; he is both a brave and a patient leader. He can’t be frightened the same way he doesn’t make decisions out of emotions. During the liberation struggle against the North, there was a common phrase he used to say even if the situation was tough; he used to say in Nuer language “e kac lora” which can be translated into English as “it is a simple lie.” With this phrase, he used to ignore so many incidents and this phrase used to give his people strength even during difficult times. Strengthening your people with brave words is very important at the time of difficulty and it is a good character of a leader. However, when the war broke out in December 2013, the Nuer among whom included the white army, elders and women who met Dr. Riek advised him to stop using the phrase “e kac lora” because the regime in Juba has reached a very worst stage which is not a lie. Dr. Riek from that time stopped the use of that phrase.
As a matter of talking from the experience, I want to talk about the bravery of Dr. Riek with overwhelming evidence. On 31th October, 2018, Dr. Riek made a surprise trip to Juba after so many disagreements with his military generals who were telling him not to go to Juba for he might be killed by the regime in Juba. Dr. Riek surprisingly attended that ceremony which was also attended by different African heads of states. He responded to his generals by saying that my life is nothing without the lives of thousands of South Sudanese, and if there is anything I can do to bring peace back to South Sudan although it takes my life, so be it. He continued. I am sure that the wise can deny this very truth as well, for they have decided to engage seriously on turning things upside down about Dr. Riek.
The patience of Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon sometimes contradicts with the brave Nuer men who believe in quick action as the solution to certain issues. People like Peter Gatdet Yak were disappointed by Dr. Riek’s patience. They believed that the regime in Juba would fall soon if a very quick action was taken and quick actions contradict with the patience of Dr. Riek. Dr. Riek first sees things before he takes action. His actions are long term actions with potential effect. The brave Nuer men are disappointed by this patience saying that Dr. Riek is giving Dinka a chance to marginalize the Nuer community. He cares about the future of the country and that is why he tried to slow down the wrath of the Nuer after the December 15 Juba massacre. If the Nuer responded as some Nuer like Peter Gatdet wanted, the South would be like Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo who are now among the failed states surrendered under the UN administration. We those who believe that Dr. Riek has never been a failure will stand with him until the day the victory is achieved.
Dr. Riek is a peace lover and a man of forgiveness
My hero is a peace lover; he never considers war as the solution to certain problems. If he considered war as the solution to problems like the current civil war which started in December 2013, South Sudan would not be where it is now. South Sudan would be like Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo if it was not Dr. Riek who has been telling people to accept peace as the solution. He rejected the purchasing of weapons so far because he knows that responding offensively would not bring anything other than the failure of our country, but this ideology disappointed so many Nuer who think that Dr. Riek is giving Dinka a chance to play with the Nuer community. He used to tell people that if we buy weapons, we can finish the Dinka. He used to say that while the Dinka are finishing the Nuer, so many people wonder. Dr. Riek was right, the Nuer are brave and strong. If the Nuer responded the same way Salva Kiir waged the war against the Nuer, most of the Dinka lands would be empty now. Nuer fought the war without any weapons, but they won a lot of battles. The Nuer only with the light weapons fought the Ugandans, the JEM and the SPLM-North brought in by the regime of Salva Kiir, but they defeated most of those forces in different battles. Dr. Riek loves peace and his peace loving ideology contradicts with the eagerness of the brave Nuer men who need to show the Dinka man how strong and brave the Nuer are. As a result of disappointment by Dr. Riek’s ideology of solving problems through peace, so may have abandoned him but unfortunately, some end up in the Kiir’s hand while the abandon Dr. Riek’s camp because he doesn’t want to defeat Kiir, the same man they end up allying themselves with.
Dr. Riek is also a man of forgiveness, no matter how deeply you wrong him, he can still smile at you and forgive you. He is the man of equality, he treats all humans equally. He treats his enemy the same way he treats his friend, a character which is very incredible and rare. This equal treatment sometimes contradicts with what so many politicians expect from their bosses. Some politicians need to be entertained with empty promises so that they can still be loyal, but Dr. Riek doesn’t do that. He also doesn’t bribe people, he expects people to follow only the truth which is his ideology.
Conclusion
We all know that lies spread faster than the truth but the former gets tired faster than the latter. The rural people of South Sudan who get no access to the modern game; counterfeiting to get money still believe that Dr. Riek is a hero. They believe that his self-determination ideology was what gave birth to South Sudan. They are the only people who still see a greater South Sudan in the hands of Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon one day. The small portion of intellectuals including myself still believes that there is a great future in South Sudan through Dr Riek. The brave people who are eager to defeat Salva Kiir through war and the counterfeit politicians who are being bribed day and night have given up on Dr. Riek, they are jumping here and there but what I know is that, they will still join the few who are committed to remain with the old man otherwise they will remain rebels forever. Ultimately, I would like to reiterate again that Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon is the uncle of the country if Dr. John Garang is the father of the country.
The author is a Pan Africanist and an African cultures activist who can be reached via his email at yientharngoany@gmail.com or gatwiel2017@yahoo.com
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