By Bosco Bush
A Member of Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Juol Nhomngek Daniel has cautioned against going for mass protests to address the country’s issues.
The MP expressed doubts about the potential for a successful and peaceful nationwide demonstration, citing a lack of unity among the South Sudanese people.
Nhomngek’s remarks come amidst growing calls for widespread protests to draw attention to the country’s numerous challenges.
However, the lawmaker argued that such demonstrations are unlikely to yield meaningful results. Instead, he emphasized that the issues affecting South Sudan have to be addressed through dialogue rather than demonstrations.
He believes that South Sudanese are not united and are divided on tribal lines, and thus any planned demonstration may be mishandled which will descend the country into chaos.
“What I need to state onset is that, the issues of South Sudan can be addressed peacefully because the demonstrations as many people have been talking about cannot work. Because South Sudan is not yet united like other countries like; Sudan, Kenya or Bangladesh.”
“South Sudan is operating on principles of tribalism where everybody is associated with their own leaders. So, they will die with their own leaders without talking even about the nation. According to them or according to such settings like this one of South Sudan, leaders are the country and there’s nothing like a country.”
“So, whenever we talk about solutions for South Sudan, we should not bring in the issue of demonstration across the country to bring a solution. Because if it’s mishandled it may descend the country into chaos like what happened in Rwanda. So, we should forget about it and make sure we bring the solution peacefully,” he explained.
Nhomngek reiterated that the only way of bringing solutions in the country is to have those in power know what they are supposed to do and have a political will.
“One of the major weaknesses of our system is some of the top leaders don’t have a political will to address the issues. Political will means you have to sacrifice in order for you to lose something in favour of the people,” Nhomngek stated.
Unlike in Bor town-Jonglei State, South Sudan has never organized nor held any popular and successful demos in history.
Last June, dozens of residents in Bor town took to the streets to protest against the delay of civil servants and organized forces’ salaries; the high cost of living caused the deepening economic crises as the country grapples with hyperinflation and steep depreciation of the local currency.
The protest was blocked by security apparatus – saying, the organizers didn’t seek permission from the relevant authorities for the activity, leading to the arrest of a photojournalist.
In 2021, the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA), an umbrella of government critics called for peaceful country-wide protests on August 30, of that year to force the government to step down citing failed leadership.
The planned protest also led to the arrest of Kuel Aguer Kuel, a civil society activist and a politician; the closure of a Think-Tank, and many other obstructions laid by the state security agents to block the planned demos.
Articles 24, 25, of the Transitional Constitution 2011 provides and guarantees the freedom of expression, media and that of assembly and association.