OpEd, Politics

The haves and the have-nots, this is the country we call our home

In my life, I have seen the face of God not in the physical or spiritual realm but in the way, he led us through the liberation struggle up to this far. God is really good. The only thing he did was give those who fought for our freedom the gumption to defeat the enemy. Sure, the enemy was defeated.

Wild Celebration after years of pain and suffering in the bush was what followed. Women and children alike wiped their tears, and they did not think of crying again unless they were tears of joy. Hope was restored. Families were reunited and there was something to celebrate, a birth of a young nation.

The country was not going to leave everyone behind. Strong and weak, poor and rich, women and children, forward was the way to go. From the then-marginalized citizens to those who were in the battlefield, it was a joint effort and there was nobody to be benefit and the other to suffer.  The country was to take care of everyone and give people the kind of life they want but it has been one problem after the other.

The political elites, who have turned this country into a battlefield, think that they are more important than the poor citizens, and who can deny this? The killing of innocent civilians, corruption and poor delivery of services to the citizens is a raw fact that these people have a lot to explain concerning the mess that we are in.

The citizens on the other hand are digging their own graves through tribalism. There is no way we can thrive when we still identify ourselves with our tribe. As poor citizens, we all know how it feels and a prize one must pay to be a South Sudanese.

It is really hard but proudly, I still celebrate those who have been strong with little or no financial capacity. It is not easy to be a South Sudanese and if you are a real South Sudanese, you will really understand the meaning of this phrase.

Life is really difficult here, but people are still hoping for a better South Sudan that would never come and am very sorry here. I have been a preacher of hope and this column is meant for that. When you find an article here, it is my part of developing South Sudan. I want to contribute to the development of South Sudan through pen.

That is what I can afford. When you come across a new article every morning, don’t put me in the shoes of a mad young man because I don’t belong there. I want to give people hope and get people back on their feet. I have been recording my progress as a writer through the calls that I get from different kinds of people.

In a month, I get over 20 or 25 phone calls from different readers and if my mathematics is right, my services reach over 300 people every year. This is a great move and I feel blessed that God has given me a dream to pursue at my younger age. I don’t have money that is what you should understand, and I am desperately in need of it.

I wish I could have money someday so that I do something on the ground but that still does not matter. I appreciate every work that I do, and it is the reason why I don’t leave this column empty for any reason. We should all know our current position and the impacts of our work on other people.

As a politician, what are you doing in your political office and what is the impact of your work with the privilege that you have, what have you done for your community? Or let me make it simple. I am a writer; I use pen and ideas to wipe people’s tears and paint a future that is almost unreal.

You cause these people to shed tears, and I reach out with encouraging words like “It is not the end of the world”. “God will make a way.”

And many things, what about you as a politician? It is okay but I have some words for you. I don’t want to be specific here but if you are in a public office, I want to challenge you that you are in the wrong place, and you should be very ashamed of yourself.

Look at yourself if you are a minister or anything like that and compare yourself with the people you went there to serve. I don’t know if you ever feel good at night after plundering public funds. Something in your heart will tell you that the money belongs to the public and it should be used for public good not to feed an individual.

And lest I forget, you don’t have the power to decide who lives and who dies because you are not God, and you will never be one. You are a public servant. This should humble you more than anything because the public comes before an individual.

The stomach you have is a sign that you have a lot of things to explain. It is okay to eat, it is natural, but it should not be everything including what does not belong to you. I hate calling people thieves but when you bite more than you could chew, I will have no choice but to call you one and you will forgive me for that.

I just want to make some clarifications. Imagine, if you were me and I were you or if you were in my shoes, what would you think? You would never stand this. This is a very hard life and sometimes, a young man without any hope for a better future will blame you for that.

Look at the education system, the infrastructure and the failed economy. I am very sorry, but I would not be taken as a mad person if I say it is better, we don’t have government. And it is very true if you deny opportunities and better life, you are nothing but a barrier. At this time, South Sudanese should have been the happiest people in the world.

Everything would have been smoothly run without conflicts of interest because there is enough in this country. There is no country in the world where people are the same and I don’t mean to say that everyone should be the same, but it matters if there is peace, security and a better economy.

But the only successful work our government did was sending our people to their early graves and they started casting votes for tribalism and our people who should have formed a unified body and held these people accountable for every misdeed blindly followed these people and they, the citizens are the very ones paying the prize.

You don’t have to identify me as a certain tribe and hate me for that just because the president or vice president is coming there. We are a completely different community. The most hated one. We are poor and as such, the only way we can succeed is by coming together and putting aside our tribal differences because these things will never help us.

The politicians on the other hand are united and they are strong because they have chosen to be one. If you have ever seen a politician doing something for you or one of your family members, you can go ahead and hate your neighbor but if you know what is happening in this country, you don’t need to put tribe first because it won’t take us ahead. We need to come together as one big human family robbed by minority.

 

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