Deng Elijah

This is why civilians should not be promoted to such big ranks without proper training and experience.

These ranks of Bol NyAnuer have suffered a lot. They are only useful for eating asida!

Dear Dr. Machar,

While you were away, South Sudan suffered more than ever before. Not to overwhelm you, let's start with corruption. South Sudan was ranked again as the most corrupt country in the world by the Transparency International, scoring only 9/100!

The sad part - this report did not include the ongoing rapidly growing nepotism where the SPLM-IG elites are only appointing their children, in-laws, sycophants and women-they-can-exploit to the most lucrative positions in the state and national governments with the intention to loot without accountability.

Even more sad - this report does not include the recently approved most-corrupt "gold-for-roads" project in which the Council of Ministers auctioned South Sudan golds worth over $2.3 billions USD to a mysteriously corrupt company known as the "SHAMROCK GLOBAL GROUP INC". This company is only well-known for this $2.3 billions "gold-for-roads" project and it seems to operate only in South Sudan and DRC although its headquarters address are traced to "British Virgin Islands" in the Caribbean Sea. According to the deal, this company will mine South Sudan gold for up to 25 years. This means, like oil, gold and other minerals are already sold in advance and no development will be achieved even by 2051 when most of us would be dead!

, , now!

“𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫”

I slightly modified this proverb but it's literally the same African proverb by Chinua Achebe, Elizabeth Shassere and others, that says “𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳”; “𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺”; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 “𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳”.

These proverbs literally have the same meaning but in this social media generation, I feel that learning how to speak or write might not be enough. Lions would need to know how to speak, read and write, and even have their social media accounts, to have their side of the story heard!

𝑶𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒃

In traditional African societies, to become of age, boys (and sometimes girls) had to undergo a rite of passage or a ritual to mark their transition from boyhood to manhood. Because this was a big deal, it was practiced in almost all African communities. Every rite of passage was unique in every community and so was the initiation of boys into manhood!

In some communities, especially among the Masaai of Kenya and Tanzania, a boy had to kill a lion to be distinguished as a "moran", or a warrior, who is capable of defending himself and his community. In the precolonial period, these recognition were more than golds and diamonds to these communities. They came with tons of benefits and they were everything boys, or society as a whole dream to achieve - to be graduated into a well respected warrior of your age and to have outstanding warriors to defend your community. These were the modern days university or college graduations!

Nonetheless, this is not an attempt to dive into history but to emphasize why the killing of a lion or some of these traditions, which are now abolished, were or are still important.

Killing a lion by itself was never enough until the story behind it is told, and of course it would be told by the hunters, who usually exaggerate their unmatched skills and sophistication to be glorified.

Like any winner, every hunter wants to be praised, respected and idolized by his community and anyone else who hears or reads their stories.

These are stories that emphasized bravery, great skills and talents among the hunters; however, until the lion learns to speak, read and write, we will never hear the other side of the story. Who knows, some of these lions could have died of sickness, old age, starvation, found asleep or even found dead from unrelated wounds from some of the battles the lions might have fought and won.

𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚

The moral of this African proverb is that no story is complete until all relevant sides are told. The one who does not have a voice or does not get to speak, and is not represented, is often considered a loser and is intentionally or unintentionally hurt in the process.

The hunters might have enjoyed telling great tales of their hunting and their sophisticated skills but it never stopped the rest of the world to figure out that poaching was wrong and it had to be abolished!

If it hurts to be oppressed or marginalized; if it hurts for your voice to be suppressed or misrepresented; if it hurts to be treated as a loser or insignificant or if it hurts to be bullied or taken advantage of by those who are in power or in position to speak today, then never use your voice and position to hurt others. Freedom of speech and expression matters but it does not mean imposing your opinions on others or using your voice to hurt those who cannot speak for themselves!

Be fair, be impartial and treat others as you would want to be treated.

Looking at the consistency of the Bright Stars to maintain a perfect track record in death-row Group B would make one believe that even Real Madrid was lucky to defeat PSG, ManCity, Chelsea and Liverpool in one season. These are very huge victories. None of the teams in Group B was an underdog, the Cameroonians are as hard as the Tunisians and the Tunisians are as hard as the Rwandese.

Congratulations to the unstoppable Bright Stars. We can only hope that Luol Deng does not get distracted; otherwise, this team will go some extra miles in the upcoming seasons!

The love-work relationship of president Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar Teny is something that only Riek and Kiir understand. When you think of the whole process that took Dr. Riek Machar to Juba you would be tempted to believe that the two senior gentlemen struck another "gentlemen agreement" behind closed doors but when you zoom into it more closely and see how Kiir is only giving peanuts to Riek and refusing to implement the peace agreement, you would know that it is not "a love at first sight" as it may seem.

Even if the two struck another "gentlemen agreement" without alerting their inner circles, that agreement died on arrival and it can't be revitalized. So far, the furthest Dr. Machar can reach is the airport to see Kiir off and similarly, Kiir also tries not to go very far as he would want to!

On the larger scale, the silence of guns may mean a thing or two but the country is still being held hostage. By holding on Machar's heel and never want to let it go, Kiir is also holding himself and the country hostage. Why not allowing Riek to travel wild and if he never returns, the rest would continue?

There would be nothing wrong sending VPYC Rebecca Nyandeng to some meetings in the region, especially to events that address fundamentally youth and gender issues, but more complex events such as the UN General Assembly should be attended by the president or the First Vice President. This is where hierarchy becomes paramount.

Besides, this year's agenda of UNGA is more complex than the previous years, it would need someone that will respond to discussions seamlessly without being advised or overthinking. This requires someone like Dr. Riek or Taban but because of all the mess we are sitting on, the interest of J1 overrules the interest of the country and we think there is a progress being made!