By Theem Isaac Machar
Dear Father in Heaven, the only living God, God of no discrimination, God of the poor, the weak, the rich, powerful people, and God of the nations, in case I may appear holy before you, please I pray for the great nation on the brink of the fall.
Your children in this country, if they are not rescued, will cease going to church and worshipping you, the Most High. They will only be praising the US dollar. Your name, “God Almighty,” will surely change to “Dear God of the Dollar”
I am a lost sheep in the wild, surrounded by wolves and hyenas. I can’t find comfort. Don’t I have the freedom to call out loud for help? I only trust in you to be the only one by whom my despair is replaced with hope and joy in my face.
I also pray on behalf of every sinful South Sudan to make hell their portion not. The hell has been created here, and all of us are in a grinding situation except abroad. Should you do, those who have created earthly hell should be shown the real and scorching hellfire. The judgment will educate them on the consequences of creating hellfire on Earth.
South Sudan direly needs mercy. It is a nation that has experienced tumult—very chaotic and despairing moments—for centuries. The masses used to pray days and nights that the Almighty Father should relieve the nation from turmoil. You heard them, dear, loving father, and that we struggled to attain independence for twenty-one years.
It is a country struggling with blood and still has an enormous loss of blood since the start of the world’s disparities. We consider all those who died as national heroes because of their heroic actions. A death that brought about an independent South Sudan evolved and was talked about. We so far believed marginalization and suffering would one day come to an end. This hope kept us living, continuing to liberate the enslaved us by the then Khartoum government.
Now that independence has been achieved, the country has tottered back into gripe, breaking the national integrity wide apart.
In the hands of the liberators, South Sudan is a nation set ablaze, and the leaders have their hands folded around the waist, watching closely as any part that would survive the scorching fire flames is shoved into the blaze.
As a case in point, leaders have started grooming who will succeed them when stepping aside. These are immediate sons and daughters, who, in a very clear indication, are a seed of inequality and segregation.
Tribalism has replaced impartiality, love, and unity. Of all the wars fought, the after-independence civil war was a war of tribalism sparked by tyranny, dictatorship, and autocracy. Leaders, through their own lenses, look at themselves through tribal personalities, which in most cases encourage political differences and grievances.
Democracy has no ground to exist, and neither does transparency. As we speak, political parties are in a stand-off argument about what criteria will be used and when they will be appropriate for the conduct of the national election. Parties to the agreement have gotten those that deny the electoral process due to a lack of trust among the stakeholders. The appointment of top officials is controlled by the president, giving him the upper hand in nominating whom he thinks fits in a particular post. For this matter, there is a big gap dug wider apart between the government and citizens to spread the message about governmental issues. Because leaders tend to disobey citizens, no appointment is granted. The only one they know is an appointing authority.
Unity and love are no more. We unite and love ourselves based on tribal lines. We support leaders of our ethnic backgrounds. Sixty-four tribes have sixty-four different opinions, making attainment and peace prevalence a deadweight.
The economic recession is torturing the masses properly. This engineered recessionary condition is invading the freedom and autonomy of every South Sudanese. And the aftermath of it will be smelled by the engineers (leaders).
To conclude, though I have a lot to talk about, South Sudan is a nation whose gardeners (leaders) sowed seeds in rocky soil. However, the future of the nation’s progress is far from meeting people’s expectations.
Have a blessed day!
The writer is a second-year student at the University Of Juba School Of Education.