Twi Leaders, History Distortion and its Implication for South Sudan (Part I)

photo: ilovehistory.utah.gov

What would you do to leaders who want to benefit politically by sacrificing the truth about their own ethnic history? How would you call leaders who advise young people to forget about their history because it’s inconveniencing the falsehood and the political cocoon they’ve built for their selfish interests? How would you trust leaders who can’t unite their own counties but dream of being national leaders in South Sudan? Where in the world does an adult tell young, enthusiastic, truth-seeking people to never, ever talk about their own history? Would you trust a leader who tells his own kids to not be proud of their authentic history and embrace a vilifying, demeaning reality? Too many questions, I know!

Unfortunately, this is exactly what Twi leaders of Jonglei state tell their young people and the less informed populace.

Writers read to authenticate or defend what they write! As I continue to grow, read and discover realities about myself and where I come from, I continue to get appalled at how distorted my own history has become and how leaders from my own county (Twi) are sleeping on the truth in order to protect their interests. If these leaders are decided on destroying our history for their interests, then I’ll expose them to South Sudanese in order to protect my daughter from an impending future in which people pride in falsehood because it’s beneficial. She’ll grow up knowing the value of truth and respect for others.

Destroy our history and we’ll destroy you! Mess with our history and you’re messing with my daughter’s authentic pride and sense of self. And that, my people, is what Europeans and Arabs did to us! Who can allow that AGAIN?!

Some Arabs and the Europeans distorted our sense of pride and historical truth. Why would I want my own leaders to do the same?

Historically, we’ve always been the Twi Dinka, Nyarweng Dinka, Bor Dinka, Hol Dinka, Rek Dinka, Aliap Dinka, Thoi Dinka, Rut Dinka, Twic Dinka, Agar Dinka, Malwal Dinka, Ciec Dinka…etc. That was beautiful not divisive!

Administrative realities have distorted everything so many people refer collectively to Twi, Nyarweng, Hol and Bor as Dinka Bor. How can Bor be a subset of itself?

So Moulana Abel Alier and Dr. John Garang De Mabior are considered to both be Dinka Bor; or Kuol Manyang and Majak D’Agoot are all considered to be Dinka Bor. Dr. Majak and Dr. John are Twi Dinka while Honourable Kuol Manyang and Moulana Abel Alier are Bor Dinka. This was true in the past and is now true; however, politics and personal interests have distorted it. It’s therefore high time someone who has nothing to lose but to point out the truth speaks up. As a writer who does research, there’s no way in hell I can disregard documented history that correlate the words of our ancestors. I owe it to my daughter and the future generation.  (See the attached list of readings for more information!)

The Twi people

The Twi Section of the Jieeng of Jonglei State is currently housed by ‘Twic East County.’ Regrettably, these people have been shuttled between different administrative districts from the colonial period to the present to the point that their ethnic reality has been distorted by their own leaders and the outsiders that are feeding on what these leaders present. Of notable districts that the Twi people have been part of are the former ‘Bor District’ since the early 20^th century and the former ‘Kongor District’ from the 1970s until the SPLA war.

The Bor District was named after the Bor people, the now inhabitants of the ‘Bor County.’ Kongor District was named after one section of the Twi Dinka. The use of the name of a given section within the larger community has created problems. Naming the District of Twi, Kongor created many problems as other Twi sections didn’t want their district named after one of their fellow sections of Twi. However, Kongor was also a government post named after the section of Kongor so the administrators were naming the district after the town; which unfortunately was the name of one section of the Twi. It’s good to remember that the Kongor section never referred to the whole of the Twi people as ‘Dinka Kongor.’

The ‘Federal System’ in South Sudan is not the solution

Photo: http://apgopohannahbrown.blogspot.ca/

Since SPLM-in-Opposition declared their preference for constitutional Federal System in South Sudan, there’s been a lot of heated debate by South Sudanese in the government, in the opposition, in the media and on the street. Understandably, the discussion pits those who support it against those who don’t support it.

While I don’t have any problem with the Federal System per se, I don’t believe it’s going to solve any of our problems now and in the future. It’s true that we need a complete overhaul of our political governance and social systems in South Sudan; however, we need to understand that for any systemic transparency to work, the leadership’s attitude, the citizen-citizen relations and the general understanding of power structure, have to change. As long as the leadership’s attitude and its perception of power and the country remain the same, it doesn’t matter what system we institute in South Sudan, we’ll always remain in a mess.

Unless we have both a good system and good people in leadership, things will remain the same: bad. A good system and a bad leadership or a good leadership and a bad system are all the same: bad!

We need to understand also that a Federal System will not auto-create. The constitutional provisions that will create and inform it will still need the cooperation of all the stakeholders in the country.  It wouldn’t be a mere importation of foreign Federal Systems such as the one in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Canada, USA or any other federated governance system in the world. There has to be internal, idiosyncratic realities to be put into account.

Since power in South Sudan is concentrated in the hand of one man, the opposition see the Federal System as another way to clip the presidential powers.

However, I personally don’t think a Federal System is what we need now. All we need is a well-informed, broad-based and structured decentralization of power. What we have now is actually a form of a Federal System (even if it’s not constitutionally stated as such) as we have state parliaments and governments. It’s therefore important that state governments be given greater and functional autonomy.

This means that ministries such as Education, Agriculture, and law enforcement sectors should be given to the states. Besides, there should be no presidential and national government’s interference in running the affairs of the states; such as the removal of the governors by the president or the president being consulted by the governor on the appointment of state ministers.

State constitutions should have constitutional clauses or provisions on how to remove or replace the governors. Since governors are elected officials, they need to be removed in the same democratic manner by the state parliament as stipulated in the state constitution. And more importantly, there has to be a very well-regulated economic leeway for the states to create their own functional economic systems, internally and externally; nationally and internationally.

South Sudan’s Vice President, James Wani Igga: A problem rather than a conscientious leader

Photo: Gurtong.net

Throughout the history of South Sudan, the tribes in the three Southern states of South Sudan have always seen themselves as more amiable and ‘civilized’ compared to their Nilotic brothers, Jieeng and Naath people. While there are cases in which one can, at minimal, accept that to be true, history and a close look at the actual geopolitical realities in these three states and their inter-tribal relations, tell a different story.

So, one comes to realize that this vacuous sentiment is maintained by intellectuals and politicians in these states rather than by the average citizenry in the villages. A look at historical leaders and freedom fighters like Aggrey Jaden, Joseph Oduho, Father Saturnino, Joseph Lagu, Emedio Teffeng, Wani Igga among others, proves that South Sudanese leaders, no matter their tribes, can just be as tribalist as Jieeng and Naath people, the largest two tribes.

I’ve not seen a single case in which leaders in the three Southern states of South Sudan have acted as better leaders than the leaders from the western and eastern South Sudan.

All the governors in South Sudan suck up to the president in equal measure with no exception. Even when they know the president is wrong and that a given decision is detrimental to the future of the country, these governors would rather see the nation burn than to correctly advise the president.

But what’s my point?

After December 15, 2013 mutiny in Juba and the subsequent tribal fight that soon after turned tribal and genocidal, one would assume South Sudan could have unleashed the wisdom of their best brains to contain the situation.

When it became clear that SPLM internal leadership wrangle turned into, largely, Jieeng vs. Naath, people like me assumed other tribes in Equatoria led by the funny and always playful South Sudanese VP, James Wani Igga, would mobilize other tribes to bring Jieeng and Naath together and end the bloodshed.

But no! Wani actually became part of the problem and his speeches became increasingly divisive, opportunistic and bizarre. Instead of helping the President make sound decisions, the funny man went along with the filth fed to the president by the opportunists around the president. Instead of peace he started mobilization for war! With oxymoronic touch, he uttered peace but called the ‘Equatorians’ to mobilize for war!

SOCIAL ILLS ARE DESTROYED BY BUILDING ALLIANCES NOT BY MAKING MORE ENEMIES

 Not all Jieeng people like what is happening in Juba and not all of them are benefiting from the corrupt political system in Juba. Informed unity across tribal lines is the key.

Non-Jieeng and conscientious Jieeng people would want to end that political system too. However, the method through which an inclusive, fair and development-friendly method can be brought about in South Sudan needs the unity of clean consciences: both Jieeng and non-Jieeng alike.

If you're a smart person fighting an oppressive political system informed by a given parochial ethno-political exclusionary framework, the best way to do it is to create formidable allies who belong but don't ascribe to that exclusionary framework. Without unity of the like-minded, the intellectual, political fight against oppressive systems gets bigger and harder.

Destructive socio-political systems are not destroyed violently from outside but peacefully from within. And this requires unity of purpose by good citizens; not ones interested in more hate, division and violence. #nogunsplease!

The best way to fight conceptual Jieeng's destructive dominance (by the mindless, elitist few Jieeng people) isn't by isolating moderate Jiieeng through mindless generalization such as 'Dinka dominance." 

Create allies to remove the rotten system; to enlighten the uninformed through conscientious unity of purposeful, solution-focused campaigns.

The corrupt system in Juba was built by people who happen to be Jieeng but don't have the interest of Jieeng at heart. And this corrupt system is being assisted by non-Jieeng who suck up to the president for the power-less ministerial positions. These non-Jieeng politicians have a phony understanding of unity.

WHY I FEEL SORRY FOR 'RACISTS'



Photo: immigrantfrustration.wordpress.com

 'White Power', 'Racism' and 'White Supremacy' are some of the sociopolitical, socioeconomic, ethnocentric concept that've been completely conceptualized in a manner that's detrimental to anyone who's determined to either challenge them or attempt to get rid of them.

It's a great fallacy to try to do away with a social malady by tackling it in the very same manner the instigator of that given social ill wants you to understand it.

Racism, WS and WP are ways devised to make them appear better and more emotionally desirable to the instigators and more mentally destructive to the intended target. Racist people want you to see them in the very way they treat you. Being 'Racist' towards you is another way of saying that 'I'm bigger, better and more valuable than you are'  while knowing deep inside them that they are wrong. And they make sure they do this by making you feel bad not about what they say but about yourself. Instead of looking at what they say and ridiculing it, you feel sorry for yourself and ask them not to say again what they said.

An indisputably Failed State: Savagery, Genocidal Attitude and the Soulless Leaders

Pathetic and excruciatingly sad! That’s what I’d say about what is happening in South Sudan. I’m sorry for only a small number of South Sudanese will like this article.

No one in South Sudan can assume a moral pedestal. While some people/tribes may carry more blame than others, it’s not presumptuous or erroneous to say that we are all to blame; one way or another! And I’m going to be unprecedentedly harsh to everyone in South Sudan. I’m going to offend people I shouldn’t, perhaps, offend. However, I’d want every South Sudanese to know that this is now our problem. Initiated by the weak and incompetent leadership of President Kiir and exacerbated by Riek Machar’s ambition for power, the problem has now become an inconvenience or a fatal danger for everyone.

Some Jonglei State residents are now in the Equatorias and causing inconveniences to the local residents; Nuer people feel insecure in areas controlled by their own government; rebels are slaughtering civilians like chickens, and the government has absolutely no interest in either ending
the war or protecting civilians.

Heed the cry of the Southern child, Mr. Obama!

Photo: Reuters

I’d assume there are many, bigger challenges you are dealing with: Russia-Ukraine, Syria, Palestine-Israel, selling Obamacare …etc. I’d also assume the mentioned problems are more important that the Sudanese mother and child lives. And I know there are times when you have to do exactly the very same thing your conscience tells you not to do…because you are in the ‘White House.’