Everything in South Sudan needs renewal, starting at Parliament.
By: Cde. Sirir Gabriel Yiei Rut,
March 14, 2015 (Nyamilepedia)—-As Winston Churchill once remarked: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
We have seen in South Sudan that our leaders, despite stumbling upon the truth that it’s time for political change, continue to hurry off as if nothing is urgent.
Our leaders actually fear reforms and the battle in my country is really about the reformist challenging the bunch of dictators.
The dictators continues to dominate simply because of its access to arms of war and control of the security sector and, therefore, they will always pose a potential threat to destroy or expunge those of us who wish for substantive reforms.
That does not make them legitimate or right.
It also does not mean we should give up or cower at the first sign of intimidation, but rather we should be strengthened by their resistance knowing that all we want, all we aspire to be, is a better society that lives under better life conditions. That is not impossible.
Resistance to reforms seems a common factor in our society; whether in government where we have old dogs that really have no capacity to create the South Sudan we want; our private sector which has become less competitive and more internally focused on surviving without any leadership change; and in our public institutions where we have seen incompetent and overpaid leadership that is arresting progress and development.
We even have resistance to change in our community and social organizations where leaders claim positions for life despite the lack of results.
All are seeking to maintain lifestyles and are afraid of the pain of the social transformation which we desperately need.
Because of our unchanging and anemic political leadership, South Sudan is stuck in a time bubble of the past.
We can hardly progress were we are continually reminded that the past matters more than the future. That is indeed a tragedy.
Societies that progress focus more on the future and most are fast progressing as we remain stuck in the past that has no benefit to our people at all.
Our neighbor’s economies are fast advancing and even surpassing ours as we bicker about what happened yesterday and who did what.
As leaders, our responsibility must now be to change this narrative. We have to renew everything that we are about so that we may see social progress. We must embrace reforms and continually renew how we operate and how we seek to change our circumstances. If we do not do that, we will regress as a society as we have seen in the last 9-10 years.
What has gone wrong?
If you ask me that my answer is simple: Our politics is regressive and enervating. We have personality-based fiefdoms that seek to maintain a status quo of the same people at the top and the rest of society following even where we cannot see the results.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his crew of yesteryear praise singers are now moribund and hugely irrelevant to the future we want to create.
Anyway, as we all know; nothing lasts forever and the chickens will one day come home to roost.
Despite the sporting talent of many South Sudanese, our institutions are unable to harness and showcase new talent simply because of vested interests of those that have led our sports organizations to the ground and yet today they remain at the helm steadfast in their foolishness.
The heartbreak is that some of us accept this trend as normal. How pitiful.
Yet our people continue to suffer because of non-delivery of services. Nothing will change until we have new leaders whose concern is our country and its people. The cancer continues to be treated like a mild flu.
Everything in South Sudan needs renewal, starting at Parliament and including our opposition political parties[SPLM-DC, UDF, among others] who must now lead with a new narrative and strategy; there is no doubt about that.
That is where our only hope for positive and substantive recovery lies; anything else will be us merely postponing the inevitable.
Our challenge is, therefore, to be proactive fearless change agents who embrace the new and avoid complacency and the false comfort that comes with it.
The future is in our hands!
I have spoken my words and may the gods of land hear my voice…………….
Cde. Sirir Gabriel Yiei Rut, is a writer and commentator and He is the Chairman of SPLM Youth League Chapter in Egypt he can be simply reach through sirirgabrielyiei3@gmail.com Skype Cde. Sirir or +201115133229
8 comments
CDE SIRRIR,
The SPLM-jUBA thugs think with their huge potbellies not their brains. They know what the word reform means but greed has rendered them blind. They have no morality.
They have been hungry for so long that they have forgotten how to share.
They want to eat the oil money by themselves and they have refused to share – that why this crisis broke out.
2-years ago in Juba Town I watched with amazement one jieng-guy who ate a big meal for 4-people and he was by himself. He did not even welcome me because I was just drinking tea. From that scene of this guy I knew there would be war soon. That was May of 2013. In Dec. same year Genocide happened and I remembered that glutton eating food for 4-people while I was hungry.
OMG.. lol
Balang, are you complaining at the website now for food which you have seen in 15 Months ago what a shameful are you? Please keep singing about hateful while, taking one side to support your tribal men which will back fire on you but in the end, you will realizing how bad it is for being a tribalism man.
Reforms it can merely be done by societies through legal agreement and you can not imposing everything to be done in Ethiopia Hotel Addis Ababa. Who do you think will trust the man who always siding with Khartoum’s government? The reforms by force wouldn’t work I got to tell you and obviously, we have realizing lately that the former vice president is using CPA Ideas by imposing two armies separately in small young nation which is impossible to happen. The former vice president is demanding too much and even some rebels leaders argued themselves that, too many demanding wouldn’t work for sure but the rebels leader still belief he will gets all these demands and he is also saying that, the young nation should be giving away to the UN to rule South Sudan for five years while, the origins citizens will just sitting watching brothers in-law of former vice president looting resources of the nation, this notion is not only bad Idea but such an Old school has no room to be accepted. You guys seem to write another page of South Sudan’s history because the Nasir faction was very likely to deny any one defected in 1991 and it has been discover by Juba’s government the intention of the rebels leader
Please keep singing about getting all demands which has let peace agreement failed in the last two weeks thus, the rebels leader must understand that, such a demands will never happen even if they took power by force hence, the separated of two armies in small nation would never going to be accepted in any way by citizens in the country and I think the rebels will have to change the cost for demanding too much and accepted too little or done nothing while not knowing that peace agreement is a give and takes which mean one side has to give up for some thing and the other side must make hard choices for the sake of peaceful coexistence unfortunately, the separate of two armies and many others issue have killed peace process and even if they returned back and the rebels still demanding too much then, there will be no peace deal unless they change cost.
SPLM leaders called a press briefing days before Juba Massacre of Dec 15/2013. We all know that the former detainees, Mama Nyandeng and the now leader of SPLM/A-Pagaak specifically called for reforms within the ruling party. The response from the chairman Kiir was violent and rage. There reforms efforts were killed along with thousands of Nuer citizen and most of those who called for reforms imprisoned with Machar escaping assassination. Currently Juba faction disagree with every proposal tabled by the Opposition further frustrating reforms. A country can not successfully reformed in the middle of war of many faction. This means unity of the warring factions including the SPLM/A factions to bring about peace is a necessary criteria before any meaningful reforms. SPLM/A In Opposition is not to blame for any failure of the country or lack of Juba Faction’s commitment to peace, unity in order to reform the country. Reform is the last thing any ruling thugs like those in Juba would want to hear.
The country needed all sorts of institutional reforms before the war broke out and before the opposition existed. Your lies against Oppositions, those in the bush and those in Ethiopia negotiating peace is just ridiculous and bias.
Sirir Gabriel/Balang Tutute
No reforms at the moment but we need an explanation as to why Riek staged a coup?You do not defecate in your eating calabash and ask somebody to wash it up. Let the father of the rebels clean his mess or any of you.
Balang Tutute
Move to pagaak to advise your brothers to give up arms,before 130 of them,is scooped again. Did you hear my message.