“Leadership is action, not position.” Donald McGannon.
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders.” Robert Townsend.
By Matiop Maker Ariik,
Opinion.
Oct 8, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — We, the current generation of Bor are more educated than our previous generations. We all want to be leaders in South Sudan but who are we going to lead? Our leadership style is to be in the “POSITION” of a leader and does not focus on the “ACTION” or services that one can do for the benefit of people.
Current Bor youth did not joint the SPLA after the interim period with the North and did not joint after South Sudan became an independent state either. We the youth, both educated and those in cattle camp see no benefits in the military and linger around towns either in Nairobi, Kampala or in South Sudan unemployed. We don’t want to join the nation’s security force. Who is going to protect Bor and Bor leaders if we do not Joint South Sudan army? South Sudan is a tribal country and everyone is supported by his own tribesmen
Where in the world can someone become a leader/president without military background and have friends and buddies in the military and succeed? ONLY IN WESTERN COUNTRIES. Is South Sudan a western country? Even in western countries, there are people with great academic credentials in the military. General Petraeus is a four star general and lead the US military during Iraq war. He later became a CIA director and was hopefully going to be a secretary of defense in the future. He holds a PhD. From Princeton University. George Washington was a General and became a US president. President Eisenhower was a General in US army and became a president as well. US military hardware are the most expensive military hardware on the world and are operated by people with great academic background, graduated from US most prestigious universities. Having people with great academic background professionalize the military as well. Why can’t we, “Bor youth” joint South Sudan army?
Why can’t we (Bor) youth joint South Sudan Army
So why are we, the current Bor youth not joining the South Sudan army and has many people with good academic background? Military is a career and is a great career and safest path to leadership, especially in South Sudan. If one has no friends in the army, who will protect him from those looking to use force to leadership like Riek current Coup attempt?
We, Bor youth have to look at our self as generation because the future of Bor is in our hands. We are more educated today then before but we school ourselves in one field only, “leadership.” How many leadership positions are there to accommodate us all? There are few if powers and positions in South Sudan government are going to be divided fairly. We are capable of caring for our own individual self and never protect ourselves especially at home in Bor. We have never given the issue of insecurity any attention since the war ended with the Arabs and has resulted into Murle terrorizing Bor and second Riek Genocide. There has never been any defense for in Bor compare to other regions of South Sudan. The 8th Division that was in Bor was not there for protection of civilians and properties in Bor. With out security, people will never enjoy any freedom. Security cannot be satisfactorily be provided by any external forces but forces recruited from within the community that need protection.
We are going to be the worst generation in Bor history if we don’t put our attention into this issue of security in Bor. People are calling us, (Bor) coward sub-tribe for not defending their land and people either against the murle or during Riek second invasion. But it is not the whole Bor community that is coward. Our current generation will be coward if we don’t answer to this call of security. Wars are fought by young people and youth, never by old people, women or children. We know internal conflicts in South Sudan are inflicted against the civilian population and never against the arm forces or government. We, Bor youth don’t want to defend our people. For those calling Bor coward, Bor is a brave sub-tribe in South Sudan and had proven it when they took the lead against the Arabs and produce the first SPLA division (Koryom). Koryom gave upper hand during the movement and destroyed the 10,000 Arab troops in Panwel crippling the Nieumery regime forcing Nieumery out of power in the 80s. These credits are not our credits, we the current generation. They belong to those Bor that were in Koryom not us. We have to earn our own credits if we are brave and can fight in the battle, otherwise we the current generations are coward if we cannot defend Bor.
We are bringing humiliation to our community, which was once known for their bravery and loyalty to the nation of South Sudan. South Sudan was not a country if it wasn’t for Koryom and Mourmour. We lost many of Koryom but they brought us South Sudan as a sovereign State. That was the greatest bravery ever South Sudan will get from people of Bor unless we prove that we are brave and produce another division like Koryom and station it in Bor to protect South Sudan and people of Bor as stated by General Malong Awan. “When a dog barks at night, the dog does not bark to protect the owner. The dog is protecting himself first, and when the dog have protected himself, then he has protected the owner.” Gen. Paul Malong Awan. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand what Gen. Malong is saying. It is simple and clear. Bor youth need to join the national army and be stationed in Bor to protect Bor. When Bor in defended by Buor. Then they have defended the government in Juba. When Bor was taken by enemy, the government lost a strategic town and the morale of the enemy is up. We Bor youth MUST join South Sudan army and be stationed in Bor.
My personal understanding is loud and clear, “There is no justice in South Sudan, only the person with a gun, hold justice.” Stated Lt. Gen. Malual Ayoom Dor. There is no justice on this world either. If Riek gets away with all these, then there is no justice. As long Riek is alive, whether in prison or outside, we have to think about his third invasion and genocide and how we are going to protect our homeland, Bor and people. White army is the future threat beside Riek and we have to consider relocating to another region or join the army to place a defend shield around Bor.
South Sudan will never be at war with any of our neighboring countries but will always have internal conflict. This conflict will always be in the Upper Nile region and in Bor land in particular. Anyone that will be unsatisfied with the government of South Sudan will rebel and launch his rebellion in Bor. THIS IS A FACT. We have to think about these two tribes surrounding us, Murle and Nuer. These are lawless communities and it will take them long time for them to get civilize.
Bor is the Israel of South Sudan and is surrounded by enemies like Israel. With Bar El Gazel as the big brother to us, we have to take the fight and defend ourselves first and the big brother will come and help later. Like Israel and the United States. Israel is a small brother to the United States located in a neighborhood where his neighbors hate him. They defend themselves first and the U.S helps them with what they need but they fight and defeat their enemies. South Sudan conflict will always affect us in general whether at home or in Diaspora. We have to think about it and the future of Bor homeland being a war zone always. This need our collective effort ALL.
Unity of Greater Bor is a dysfunctional Unity.
Greater Bor unity works when Twi is holding the top leadership position and never when someone from Bor becomes the high officer in South Sudan. Greater Bor was united when Garang was the chairman of the movement but Garang never considered himself a Bor person. It wasn’t even functioning when Deng Dau was the camp chairman. We all knew what happened when Buol Lual became the chairman after Deng Dau left. Twi were against Buol being from Bor. It would have worked if Majak Agoot was the defense minister or president of South Sudan. Our brothers in Twi want Bor support when they are on top. Greater Bor USA could have collapse if Ayuen Kuany, Mabior Achiek or Mayol had won that election. Now Deng Lueth is the cyber rebel commander and we kept him as the chairman of the community. Is greater Bor USA part of Riek and Majak rebels? If not, then why is Deng Lueth still the chairman with all he has written in support of Riek rebels?
Garang Mabior was blaming Riek as someone who stab the movement in the back but Garang himself will make the top TEN list of people who stab the movement of South Sudan in the back. The false accusation of Bor officers and their arrest that resulted in the death of Martin Majier was the stab in the back of the movement if Twi don’t know it. If Bor youth took the law into their hands and go for Garang’s head would anyone dare to stop them? That mean Koryom which was comprised of Bor with all Bor commanders, was anyone going to stop them? The only person that would have thought of would have been President Kiir and that was unlikely. Bor could have just cut Garang’s head off and Kiir become the movement leader. If it wasn’t Bor that garang decide his baseless accusation against and he did it against another tribe that had a division like Koryom, they would have taken actions against Garang. We Bor judge things orderly and people take advantage of that and that is why Garang got away with this act. Wasn’t Majak Agoot among those that were bullying Makuei Lueth in that Dec. 6 disgruntled employees’ protest? Was it because Makuei was still in the government? Where was Majak respect for Makuei as the chairman of Greater Bor in South Sudan? This greater Bor unity is not working for the interest of people of greater Bor but Twi interest ONLY and it is time to dissolve it and leave each community to choose its own destiny. We can live with our brothers in Twi, Duke/Nyarweng like other communities in South Sudan.
Future of Bor is in our hands, we the current Bor youth.
- Security in Bor is the priority. We MUST join the army. No one will EVER defend Bor better then us. If we want to be leaders, we need to come through the arm forces first.
- Governing system in Bor need to be established and set up. Bor has no governing system and need to be written in form of a constitution outlining the powers. Bor needs to have an executive council to oversee the work of the commissioner(s) and security so there is transparency and when things failed, someone need to be held accountable. This will happen only if the governing system is set up with distributed powers. We need two branches, the commissioner(s), and the executive council and head of security. Commissioner(s) can run the government in Bor and the executive council will have approval powers in spending, land issues.
- Taxation system needs to be established in Bor. We have a lot of money that can improve development in Bor but there is no good collecting system. Every Bor citizen MUST pay taxes. Obama taxation need to be used where the wealthier can pay little more. Our officials on top like Kuol Manyang, Makuei Lueth etc, need to pay more taxes than those who has less income. We here in Diaspora need to pay at lease $20 a month per each person. Tax collectors/agents must go out at the end of each month with ticket books to collect taxes and establish an auditing unit that will audit the money collected to make sure taxes collected are accounted for and anything used need to be documented. We need one single account in Bor. funding will be authorized by Bor Executive council.
- Funding must be prioritized and security should make the top list, development of roads, agriculture, education etc. Even if we cannot pay salaries of those in the army in Bor, we can use the money to buy them food so they can support their families with their salaries from national government. Development of road is another that we need to invest in so that the economy in Bor can thrive. Bor-Juba road is the heart of Bor economy and we must develop it and provide protection on that road so our businessmen can run their business more effectively and safely. Roads joining the towns need to be improved. We need to use modern settlement in Bor villages where people can settle around towns and farm outside. Metal fencing can be used around the farmlands to prevent animals from destroying the crops. We can do more in the agriculture sector to improve food production. Bor has the poor educational system in South Sudan but we are more educated than most tribes in South Sudan. We need to invest more in Bor education and set standards for teachers. Schools in towns need to be renovated and service must be taken to towns because town schools will provide more discipline to kids. We have seen how Bor Town has been with the kids. Kids are thieving around Bortown and are becoming acquaintance with motorcycle and some are even pocket picking around buses. Children are the future and we need to do more in schooling them in Bor. Many high school graduates have no other source of income to advance their education in Bor. We need to build another university in Bor Town and provide scholarship for those who will serve in the arm forces in Bor so they can study during peacetime. We also need a vocational training school in Bor to train the youth in handy works. We need to provide scholarship to children of those that will be in arm force as well. We need to create our own emergency department and fund money into it that can help people during emergencies. We MUST NOT rely on the UN and international community because they are in South Sudan for their own interest. We need to be independent and handle our own affairs.
- Bor is facing extinction in South Sudan. If we do full statistics of Bor citizens that have died since the beginning of the SPLA movement in 1983 and up to today, more than 60 percent of those deceased from Bor lost their lives in the hand of South Sudanese, not in the hands of Arabs. Is there something that we are doing wrong against other South Sudanese or other tribes in South Sudan hate Bor people and are just out to kill them? We need to address this and set a strategy to end it so we can live in peace in Bor.
- Jonglei MUST be divide into two states. Bor and Murle will become one states of “Southern Upper Nile” and Nuer will have their own State as Central Upper Nile. Duk and Twi can choose which state will they joint. Either the Nuer state or Bor and Murle State. If Murle does not want to become one State with Bor, then Bor MUST be given Bor Administrative Area and separated from Nuer. This time, Nuer need to be given their own state, relocate the capital out of Bor. There is no way Bor MPs will work if the state capital is relocated to Nuer land. There is no reason for us to stay together with Nuer in one state after they have destroyed Bor for the second time. Nuer need to run their own affairs in their own state because they have been complaining about Bor being the capital of the state. They can travel through Bor like any other citizen in South Sudan. UNIMISS installation in Bor MUST relocate out of Bor if South Sudan still wants to have relation with them. We want to die alone this time and we DO NOT need UNIMISS protection or what ever they are doing in Bor.
- Bor population is high and it MUST be divide into three counties. NOT TWO but THREE. Bor North County, comprise of Jalle and Baidit Payams. Bor Central County comprise of Makuach payam and Makol cuei Boma, Bor South County which will be Anyidi and Kolnyang Payams. Bortown will still be a municipal city of Bor. Bor executive council must be above the commissioners.
- We need to work together for our own interest collectively with those home, in the government and us here in Diaspora. Like I said, we Bor are facing extinction and we need to work on our own interest and our future. South Sudan interest must be left to the people of South Sudan. We are all leaders but let us be leaders of ACTION, not leaders of POSITIONS. Let us work for the BENEFITS of our community and not our own SELF ENRICHMENT. Malual Ayoom was not one of the famous commanders in Bor history before but his actions during this conflict brought him to the list of Wal Athiu, Kuol Manyang, Anyar Apiu, Makhor Lual, Jok Riak, Majok Mach and many other commanders that were from Bor. His ACTIONS fighting the white army spoke louder than what he can say in South Sudan. “Actions speak louder than words.” For the last eight years, Bor administration has done nothing in Bor. Even clean water system in Bor Town was not built. Can anyone tell me for the last eight years, we cannot afford a simple water system like the one we had in Kakuma refugee camp in Bor Town? How expensive was the water system in Kakuma? Three important things a municipal city MUST have are water system, sewage and trash removal. Electricity is another but it could be secondary in Bor Town. Are these really in anyone’s mind that those are a “MUST HAVE” for a city like Bor Town to have?
- We need to invest in Bor and stop keeping our families in Nairobi, Kampala. All those money that we sent to these countries will develop Bor if we sent them home. We have great credentials and we should be building universities, hospitals in Bor. when these countries developed to where they are now, they all came through struggle and they start building their properties one stone at a time until they made it to were they are. We have to start building our homes in Bor for Bor to develop, one stone at a time. Thanks to people like Dr. Bior Kwer PhD. and those who were teaching at John Garang University in Bor Town. Our credentials here in the west will give us advantage to have better universities in Bor than those universities in Kampala, Nairobi. We just have to work to build a better future and home for us. The world has a free market and everything is available. All we need is money. We don’t need anyone to come and do it for us; we can do it by our self. I would rather have someone show me how to catch a fish rather than giving me the fish all the time. We know how to catch the fish. Why can’t we go and catch it our self.
If you are not civilized, you cannot understand democracy and if you cannot understand democracy, you are not civilized. Civilize society NEVER use violent to achieve a political goal or use violent to win over an opponent but words.
PhDs are destroying South Sudan. If a PhD change a person from uncivilized human being to a civilize one. Are these PhD holders really civilize, (Riek Machar, Garang Mabior, Adwak Nyaba, Majak Agoot, Lam Akol) or are they dictators? Who had held a PhD and became the president here in the US?
Unity of Bor is crucial at this hard time and isolation of Gok is not in the best interest of Bor. I hope Alier Mareet have understood how a democratic and a civilize society functions since he has lived in it for the last thirteen years. It is simple. Issues are debated and then voted. Issue that get the majority vote wins and the rest get flush down the toilet. Ater community voted on the issue of Gok in the present of Alier in a teleconference and 80% (17 people) voted no to joining Gok, 19% (4 people including Alier) voted yes. I think this was democratic if it was to be respected. Ater is part of Gok and if majority of Ater said no, this should be a clear sign that majority of Gok community members across US will vote the same. Alier pursued the second vote and it was chaotic and Ater is now disintegrated. The chairman resigned and a new chairman (Thon Aguek) was elected but Ater community is not united like it was anymore. How can we work together, respect and support our self democratically if we can’t respect this kind of simple vote? Our unity in Bor will make us much more stronger. Alier, you are not building a great resume for yourself and what you are pursuing will never succeed. We are just asking you to drop it.
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” General Colin Powell.
“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” Bill Cosby.
