If you are a hopeless South Sudanese, you will be hopeless until you are hopeless no more if you do not accept the truth that South Sudan has not failed, it is people who have failed. But it is not everyone who has failed, it is people entrusted with the leadership of the country who have failed.
Whether they are failed by the people who vote for them, or they fail themselves, the truth remains that they have failed. Whether they are failed by wars, corruption, or tribalism, the truth remains that they are the ones who cause wars, encourage tribalism and practice corruption. Whether they are failed by indecisiveness or lack of implementation, the truth remains that they will never make genuine decisions and implement them even if Jesus Christ volunteers to help them.
The worst thing on earth is the failure of someone who decides on behalf of the country. Once he fails, all the people fail too. South Sudan has not failed, it is South Sudan now and will remain South Sudan forever. Although resources are going to be buried together with the failed leaders, the next generations will be too brainy to start from scratch and prosper.
As I alluded to earlier the failure of the people entrusted with leadership makes everyone fail as well, the failure of South Sudan’s leaders has also made the people fail to tell the failed leaders to step down. People being fail are not united to speak with one voice to people who fail them. It is unfortunate that some people are in love with the situation they are in, which to me, is their own failure to liberate themselves.
Unless failure has not struck you, but when it has struck you, you will call black, white, and white, black. People entrusted with the leadership of the country have failed and the country is now on the brink of failure because they have eaten all it takes for a country to be called a country.
Traditionally, when a fly falls into milk, it is picked out and the milk is boiled to make sure any pathogens get destroyed. Then the milk is drunk, and no sickness ensues. This is what I want to be done to the people who have failed to take South Sudan to the next level. I want them to be singled out and South Sudan boiled to make sure they are gone for good.
It is not hard singling them out, but the only reason is the disunity among the very people who are at the periphery of South Sudan. It confuses me why people are facing common challenges and are not brought together by such challenges to look into what to do to bring a long-lasting solution.
Leaders have failed because the people they are leading have failed. South Sudanese have failed. Leaders are a fraction of the people they are leading, and their failure is a small thing to solve. The only reason is that we love them failing. Sometimes, we support them to fail. A disagreement is a natural thing wherever human beings exist, but when a disagreement goes into the brain occupied by tribalism, it brings failure however small it is.
If that disagreement between the two leaders in 2013 was deemed a political disagreement and left in their own hands to solve, there would not have been this great failure of the country. But because people took it tribal, it has caused harm whose recovery is expected to take decades. One good thing about it is that South Sudan as a country has not failed, but people, and such people will perish, and successful people will take over.
The author is a medical student, University of Juba.