The people are awake to what is external in their land while the government is not
The Africans believe by seeing and that is a life style that many of us have grown up knowing and believing to be one way to tell a hypocrite and who is not.
When the trucks in Unity were reported to have been seen carrying Egyptian dredging machines by the local people, the national government days later denies knowledge of these same machines that were reportedly received by the state government to apparently remove water weeds that will eventually ease navigation on that side of the river; including bringing in of goods from Sudan to South Sudan.
The Minister of Environment and Forestry statement that the Nile River dredging project is illegal and will not commence until proper environmental assessment is concluded is true and beneficial to the country of course but she definitely would not have said that if the matter had not been raised by the concerned citizens. Matters only become important enough to be addressed widely when the troubled citizens get a chance to air their grievances.
It is now time for the national physical geographers to shine. Come out and share your expertise with your government because after all
Dredging is the removal of mud and objects from the bed of a river, according to the English. If the president’s office denies knowledge of the dredging machines seen and whose reception was reported by the state government days before the office’s comment then would automatically raise questions within the already bothered public. “I am not aware if there is any machine brought to drain the Nile tributaries” is geographically not what dredging is actually about.
A word to the government, do not bring the people to mistrust you more each day.