Everything which has a beginning has an ending. Even this earth will come to an end one day. Before I curse Tribalism, I must at first curse Diversity! You know what; it was Diversity ‘who’ widened the path of Tribalism and the two united to divide South Sudanese up to the family level.
Diversity starts with a Region one hails from, State, County, Payam, and Boma. When an opportunity comes, and Diversity is mandatory, it tears people apart. People sit down and go through the previous opportunities so as to make sure the opportunity at hand goes to someone who has never had a chance before or has had fewer chances. This follows the tribal lineage until the last line.
Besides Diversity being the promoter of Tribalism, it also gives room for weak leaders since the opportunity goes to whoever deserves it whether or not he/she is competent. I do not know who sent Tribalism to serve without term limits in South Sudan. Has dictatorship become a good thing that those of Tribalism practice it too? This is sad in its entirety.
South Sudanese are torn apart by Tribalism. There are 64 South Sudanese instead of one South Sudan. Each South Sudan of the 64 takes a different direction from the direction another South Sudan takes. If one South Sudan takes the northern direction, another South Sudan takes the southern direction, another one takes the western direction and the other one takes the eastern direction.
No one follows another. As one South Sudan of the 64 pulls South Sudan to the north, another one pulls it to the south, another one pulls it to the west and the other one pulls it to the east. And any country which does not take one direction is a failed country.
As a South Sudanese moves, another South Sudanese looks at him/her very closely as if identifying a lost fellow but is looking for marks to conclude that he/she hails from this particular tribe.
South Sudanese have reached a stupid level where members of a particular tribe are not given houses to rent because it is fabricated that they grab houses by force. South Sudanese have reached a stupid level where members of a particular tribe are troubled to undergo all the stages of an interview and in the end, failed intentionally because this office is not theirs.
It is rooted deeply in the job seekers’ minds that whenever vacancies are announced, they first rush to ask for the origin of the CEO or Minister concerned so that they do not waste their precious time in writing applications and submitting them to the wrong office.
Police cases are solved based on the tribal line. The army operates on a tribal line. When fighting intensifies in a certain region, state or residential area here in Juba, a rescue force is sent late, not because it was hard sending it, but because the head of the rescue force is a tribalist.
To be honest, the government itself is too tribalistic. It blindfolds people that it is fighting Tribalism, but it is promoting it. One piece of evidence is that why does the government allow tribes to organize ceremonies in honour of their appointed sons and daughters? The appointees do not belong to any tribe; the trust bestowed upon them makes them tribeless.
I thought Tribalism had completed its mission since it has caused war in which its suffering is still counting. I thought Tribalism had completed its mission since the percentage of an inter-tribal marriage has become inconsiderable. I thought Tribalism had completed its mission since the country is 12 years old, but still looks like 5 years old.
I think your mission is completed. What more do you need to accomplish? I think what has remained is to divide one South Sudanese into two. Your term has come to an end, pack your luggage and return to where you came from.
The author is a medical student, University of Juba.