Fitting into Nationalism
BY: Stephen Puoch Gai Nilony, Upper Nile
With reluctance now days, it became unnecessary and difficult to write on any issue concerning any known specific topic in the southern Sudan. In spite of the existence of many chronic social issues (problems which reached the level of being called diseases), one is divided between talking and helplessly keeping quiet, because he is disappointed.
With regards to the national responsibility towards our beloved southern Sudan, one can not just keep quiet helplessly, because we are feeling heat of the events and victims of any wrong and unusual practice in the south despite the doer.
Many bad things happened and are against our unity and integrity as people with one destiny and common goals to achieve, because of illiteracy (among the illiterate), and the lack of the true sense of belonging and patriotism to the nation, among some elites.
It becomes of no importance anymore to talk of corruption, tribalism, and nepotism or unnecessary and newly created and emerging tribal conflicts. With other unknown factors, these tribal conflicts contributed a lot in worsening the security situation in the south. The reason is that, we temporarily left all these things to God and time. May be the players one day come to their real consciences, if they have any at all.
To me the main reason for these bad practices is the lack of sense of nationality and belonging to the southern Sudan as patriotic. If we are so, we couldn’t do all these mischievous deeds against our people and nation.
We all know well that, corruption can not go with development, tribalism can not go with unity and togetherness, nepotism can not go with equality and conflicts are against social harmony and peaceful co-existence. The mother of all these problems is that, no development can go with insecurity, because the development is done by the people who are secured.
A looter or embezzler of public funds (salaries, taxes or any sort) is not a nationalist and patriotic in the real sense, because if he is fitting to such a category, he shouldn’t do that. His conscience may not allow him to do that. He can feel the sense of guilt inwardly in his privacy. This is the same for one who encourages tribalism and nepotism.
The bad example is with those who are killing their innocent brothers and sisters brutally, in the peace time with concrete reasons except theft. They should spare these precious lives for the development of the south Sudan. It is enough we had a lot of deaths during the liberation war. We should not repeat this again any more.
They should know that, we need any single individual in the south to live his/her life. We should not be the reason for any lost of life in the south after the achievement of the CPA.
As a reminder from to the illiterate killers and cattle raiders and children abductors, that, by your new found false temporary strength, you can raid cattle and abduct children, but you can not and will not do that to the courage and the strong will of your victims any where in south Sudan.
To conclude, one can say that, the above mentioned chronic official and social diseases, are there and flourishing everyday, due to the lack of fitting into the nationalism and patriotism as people who belong to their mother land.
So it is very difficult for a thief who intended to steal the public funds or illiterate killer to fit into nationalism easily. That is why we are still facing these chronic diseases up to now. There will be no change, until the wrong players willingly changed their attitude towards the better.
As it said in the holy Koran (the Islamic religion book),” God can not change what is in the people unless they change what is in themselves.” So we better change what is in ourselves before God could make his change to our attitudes and wrong deeds.
Stephen Pouch Gai Nilony -Upper Nile State –
Malakal.E-mail.
[email protected].
