By Joseph Ring Lang
It all started when the Commander in Chief and Chairman of the SPLM/A Liberation Movement during the 21 years’ civil war had authorized the formation of community-based organizations in all SPLM/A controlled area(s) in South Sudan so as to help in the war efforts. Twic community organization was established in February 2004 at Turalei. After the war ended in 2005 the war efforts organization continued to exist in a different form. Then, in 2012 an organization called Twic Community Organization was established in Juba, probably to mimic the war efforts organization.
The election of the first Executive Committee was a simple process. When the tenure for the old group ended and a new group was supposed to be elected, a tug of war then began. The aspirants saw a potential of using the organization as a political ladder to climb up toward the political leadership.
The election of a new executive committee became impossible. Worse still, the registry voting list was tempered with. Therefore, the correct voting could not take place because in some cases the serial number of the voters was not corresponding with the names. Example, if a person is given a serial code number to take to the voting registry list, that person would find a different name in that code number and not that individual name – an incongruity which was difficult to correct during voting time.
The stalemate dragged on for four years and more- up to now. Also, the inflation added its part to the confusion. The prices of the meeting halls became more and more expensive in places that could hold thousands of participants.
Unexpectedly, a new group then emerged. They met and elected their community leader in the name of Twic Mayardit Organization and continued as if nothing was wrong. As a response to that move, a second group also met and elected their Community Leader. The two Community Leaders then collided each claiming to be the true representative of the Community.
Then some individuals with legal training took the issue to the Registrar at the RRA (Relief and Rehabilitation Commission) for help. For unknown reason, after initially accepting to play the role of an honest broker the Registrar got scarred for unknown reasons and withdrew his intervention role and recommended the issue to be taken to the police.
A letter was then written to the Inspector General of Police so as to forward it to the unit concerned. Believe it or not the Inspector General of Police decided not to play any role on the subject and recommended the conflict to be taken directly to the Court of Law with no Police involvement.
When the Governor of Warrap State by name Aleu Ayieny heard about it, he called a meeting to hammer out the solution. The two opposing committees were amalgamated and were asked to meet so as to make preparations for the holding of the General Assembly which is the Supreme Authority of the Organization. Up to now in 2023 it has not been resolved – why?
It thus transpired that the first group refused to meet with the second group for reasons best known only to them alone which resulted in an impasse.
Unless, the judiciary accepts to intervene, which looks very unlikely and not stand aloof like the Registrar and the Inspector General of Police, this could be the end of the road.
The question asked: after the abdication of the Registrar of the Organizations from his responsibility and; the Inspector General of Police, having decided not to take a proactive role on the conflict which has the potential for a wider conflict within the community – where do we go from here?
Looking at it critically, there is a lot of politics involved in the conflict. The Organization has moved from being a service Organization to being a political Organization with different hidden agendas and unarticulated political ideologies.
To put an end to such type of conflicts:
- The Police Institution in South Sudan has to move very fast so that they become a proactive Police Institution that is ever ready to address potential conflicts before they occur.
- Politics must be eliminated from Government Institutions. It is worth mentioning here that within those opposing groups mentioned above, there are Government employees in the conflict Arena.
- The Political Parties Act 2012 passed by Parliament and signed by the President of the Republic of South Sudan in the same year must be immediately implemented. It will subsequently eliminate most of those conflicts.
Joseph Ring Lang can be contacted on Email: josephlang2020@gmail.com or langjr2002@yahoo.com