By Nyak Lam
My humble chiefs, the sub-chiefs, the older community leaders, the company’s stakeholders, the head teachers of all our schools cheering with us today and the community members, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
Thanks for coming back today to continue our public address from where we ended yesterday.
I remain your son, Nyak Lam, so privileged to host you again today, on this gorgeous occasion. I can’t forget to tell you again, that if there is what deserves a million thanks, it is your continuous gathering here to listen to me.
Your gathering here today for the second time keeps communicating a lot to me about your concern for the wellbeing of our community. It endlessly teaches me about the peace accord we hope for in our society.
To promise you, your time here will never, ever go unrewarded. Your smiles will surely bless this occasion. Be welcome and enjoy this revival gathering with me.
Dear chiefs and all the invited guests.
Beloved audience, yesterday, I declare to you that the list of effects of corruption is long and endless. Even if I am given days, I won’t finish mentioning the effects of corruption in our country.
Dear audience, I then declared that the unmentioned list of effects of corruption remains your home assignment and I hope you have started noting them down. Write on the walls of your huts, on tree barks, on rocks and everywhere. Let it be visible.
My dear audience, write the list, so that you understand them, memorize them and teach them to your children, so that they beware of this vicious vice.
Let your children teach their children so that they guide their steps against the evils of corruption.
Dear chiefs and all the invited guests, see how I am still troubled today. I am troubled asking questions that perplexed me often all time, again and again.
Which country wishes to be downward in economic development? Which country can grow economically strong if corrupt?
My dear audience; Let us asses our economy today. Where are we, to be honest in our economic development? If all of us who are here are truthful, we can say that corruption has led to a lack of economic development in our country.
The tax collections are so merciless on our business people. Business is the main generation of income in every household in a country, therefore without it; it must be followed by lack of development in the economy.
As we all know, our economic development depends on petroleum which is our main national income. If that money from petroleum goes to individual pockets, how will we get our economic strength? As civil servants are not provided with their basic salary, improving the living standard of each family in our country is impossible.
Every family goes broke each day. Many and many south Sudanese spend less than a dollar each day. Others spend not a dollar at all. Imagine if a family has an expenditure of 20 dollars a day, what a tragedy! Our economic situation won’t be stable as long as corruption still lives in our country.
Before I take you to the conclusion of my speech, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to elaborate more on why it is so important to fight corruption in our country.
Honestly, to tell you dear audience, can we fight corruption until it ceases to exist? Our law will take its position if we completely bury corruption here, in South Sudan. If all our leaders will implement the law, then, crime rates will reduce to zero. Everyone in the country will give great respect to the law if all the wrongdoers are punished as constituted.
Who will forge a document if they know that the uncle or whoever relates to them will not accept a forged document to get a job or land? With zero tolerance for corruption, everyone must have the right document and all will have what they deserve. You will soon see equality in the distribution of all our resources and hunger will get far from our doors.
We will never hear of poverty in our country if we uproot corruption. The standard of living will improve in the entire nation. Who will not get a job if corruption exists not in this country? All the job opportunities will be given to those who deserve them.
There I mean; all will be employed in the jobs they have skills or knowledge on. A doctor will not be employed in the ministry of petroleum and a teacher will not be employed as a doctor in the hospital as happens today.
Here in our country, the doctors we have in most of our health centers are people, if having certificates in health will be a mere workshop of two or three days but some don’t have such at all. Since all the health centers are taken up by NGOs, because of paying the workers in dollars, everyone wrestles to work there, even though you don’t have the qualifications.
May we fight corruption and soon see the right people working for the right jobs?
A country that has eliminated corruption from all its territories never stays undeveloped. Our nation will develop to the world standard only if we manage to fight corruption.
We will have good roads, whereby transporting goods from one state to another will be perfect. With an efficient transport system, the economy of the country will improve to the maximum. We will never have poor health facilities if corruption finds its way out of this country.
Dear audience, everybody in this country has a fear of traveling from state to state because of insecurity, but had there been no corruption, a strong mutual relationship would exist among all South Sudanese. Every citizen would see the other as a brother or a sister but today when you see a Dinka; you take him or her as a lion. Seeing a Nuer or another person from any of the unmentioned tribes, you take him or her as a bear or any other dangerous animal.
Is that how God created us to live in this country? Could God intend to give this beautiful land to people who see each other as animals? No!!!
The Good lord couldn’t make such a great mistake! He didn’t give this land to Nuer or Dinka alone! He didn’t give it to any of the other tribes alone either! The highest God has given this amazing green vegetation to all the South Sudanese.
Had there been no corruption, all the South Sudanese would live as angels before God, treating each as a brother or a sister. Tribalism would permanently die from our country.
Dear audience; Let us cheer up each other in the fight against corruption! With the little research I did on why there are unknown gunmen in the country, I have learned that everyone is tired of them. I guarantee you, my good people; you will never hear a rumor about it if we erase corruption in the country.
It is hunger that forces such people to do that. They take it as a survival technic. It would disgrace them starving to death while they have some other ways to survive.
Many of them are not criminals. There are many educated men among them. Some, because they can’t get a job, they think it is better to do that than beg, as we know a beggar is never given any recognition in our country. They see it as a shame, begging while they can use their muscles to get something good for themselves.
Fight corruption and that is the price for selling unknown gunmen away!
Is it necessary to have prostitutes in our society, according to our culture? Based on what I know in our culture, prostitution is the biggest sin. Whoever is known doing it is cursed from the community.
But because of corruption, dear audience, prostitution has become the most appreciated act in our community. People have modernized it and it is taken as modernity.
Young girls who have failed with their studies just branch to such. The value of marriage has been lost since almost every girl loses her virginity before the age of twelve, while those from restrictive families at least manage to reach the age of 15 to lose their virginity.
Dear ladies and gentlemen, we will restore the value of marriage and will never hear of prostitution if we queue up in a fight against corruption.
Believe it or not dear audience, we are all drunk on depending on other people. We all put our hope in the corrupted individuals. I am confident that surely, one of us will become independent if we burn all the elements of corruption in our country. We all have the ability to do any work for a living. There is no people born to depend on others, try getting rid of corruption; we will have many hard-working young men and women in this country. We will improve our living standards and every man or woman will become the president of his/her own house.
In conclusion, dear audience, I would doubtlessly affirm that corruption is the worst act in our country and has a long list of negative effects in our society, but nevertheless, we can still fight it and make it cease from us.
Be blessed as I descend from the stage, ladies and gentlemen.
The author Nyak Lam can be contacted at E-mail:,nyaklam@gmail.com