South Sudan News Agency

BY Kuach Y. Tutkuay

“The game of eye for an eye, will only leave a blind country”

April 24, 2013 (SSNA) -- It is a privilege I will never regret to be a south Sudanese, and if I were to choose between south Sudan and one of the developed countries—say America—I would definitely choose south Sudan and if someone asked me to produce a reason for my choice, I would write a book. My dear readers, I have got an issue of concern to share with you and in fact I am expressing this idea in a very deep sorrow for I know we will face a lot of obstacles in the morrow, if we don’t turn to the right path.

My conscience tells me that south Sudan has lost tract of social coexistence and there is no doubt this has manifested itself in many a forms. The practice of tribalism fueled by lack of political ethics among the politicians, with their naive believe to know more than they really are, has led this nation astray. The issue of these war-weary politicians alone would not bother me because their grey hairs symbolized their short fall, but my fear is that these traditional politicians will make disciples among the youth and will sow the seeds of hatred instead of peace. This is a concern I believe every patriotic citizen of this fragile nation would put into consideration.

Youth are the heirs of the past, co-owners of the present and owners of the future, but we need to be very careful of what we should inherit and what we should not. The long civil war has corrupted our past and our present, because through the bush live, we have adopted a new culture of war which was not there during the time of our ancestors. Our ancestors during their time lived together, share water points, grazing land and cultivate together without any significant conflict. The same spirit applied to our soldiers when they were fighting for our freedom, they fought irrespective of tribes.

Presently, employment in all public institutions is based on tribal affiliation, a kind of "technical know who" has replaced "technical know-how". Tribalism has been the slogan of the current government and this has signified itself in employment and settlement around Juba which based on tribal clustering. The introductions of al-Qaeda style of killing—slaughtering a human being—which had never happened in the history of south Sudan, now happening in Juba. This is a grotesque present which I don’t think the youth can co-own. The future is too blurry but there is always a way out for an optimists.

Now that it is crystal clear that the past is neither worthy inheriting nor does the present worthy co-owning, what do we do? Will we pass through this pitfall the liberators passed through? NO! We are the future of this nation; therefore, we have to leave this path of tribalism. I want us to understand that our diversity is our strength but we should not regard it as a factor for our division. Change will never come to us as a miracle but we the youth must accept changes by standing up and say no to divisive politic in a way that is self-expression rather than politic. Let's leave politic to politicians because it blow us is division, "us against them" kind of politic.

Humankind has been a primitive segregator of what God the creator has put together; when God created human being, He did not segregate them into tribes or races. He created them in His own image and I guess He must be very proud of them, but because of the divisive nature of man, they clustered themselves into groups which became an impediment to peace and co-existence today. And now that this has proved itself to be the most problem facing us, we tend to escape the problem by finger-pointing at others that “they did it, not us” but this will not help in any sense because a problem get solved only when you accept it as your fault and seek alternative way forward.

The fact that you are born of one particular tribe should not be an excuse to pay your loyalty only to that tribe and despise the rest. I believe that even if I were not born of my tribe, I would have been born of another tribe within south Sudan because south Sudan deserves me and I will still be proud of being a south Sudanese, so why should I be proud of my tribe instead. One tribe cannot make a nation; it is our diversity that makes us look beautiful. Take an example of a rainbow, it has seven colors but if you removed one of them will it still look beautiful as it used to be? I believe not. I know all of us are patriots and have love for this country, but the only thing we have forgotten is that when we don’t love ourselves, how can we claim to be patriots to our country? This means we don’t also love this country.

Last, but not least, I need to advise my friends, the journalists who hold the sole responsibility of enlightening the citizens of this country. I always read all your articles but I think one principle of journalism must be missing. The principle of neutralism is missing among most journalists, though there are still qualified ones. It is not so interesting to a nationalist like me that you are using your tribal or personal interest as a watermark to your articles. An example of these are from the citizen newspapers, those who beat the drum of the truth should beat a drum they have first confirmed to be the drum of the truth, otherwise, they may end up beating the drum of tribalism. Media is very important and we should not join it with a prime objective of protecting the reputations of our tribes, the author is very much concerned about what we post in the media. Media messages affect more than any other things, therefore, we need to furnish our words in making sure that they will not draw negative attitudes in the minds of the public. If the writers could not abide by this principle then it would be better for the media organizations to reject some of the messages that they deem negative in the social set up.

The success and failure of this country is in our hands, especially we the youth. We need not only to depend on the information provided; we also need to refine our own. Politicians normally brings us messages base on their interests, and if we pick it bare, we are no longer neutrals. Let the spirit of fairness and honesty guides this nation, and most of all, may peace and co-existence prevail in abundant.

If my article harms anyone, please I am sorry! I just want to point out what I think can bring us together as youth because we have a lot of things ahead which call for our togetherness, otherwise, thanks for your time.

The author could be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

By Juma Mabor Marial

April 24, 2013 (SSNA) -- I may be called the Journalist, the activist, the political rival, the most wanted person in my attempts to response to the untenable utterances against the media and other citizens of lakes state by the Deputy Governor over the weekend, but am also convinced in my own right that if I don’t condemn these reckless statements from our leaders, then who would do that?

Before I could release my discontentment, I wish to refer the readers to article published on Sudan Tribune on April 23, 2013 (RUMBEK)  which read as  "Those who are writing negatively about this state government will be crucified like Jesus Christ if we capture them", Lakes state’s Deputy Governor, Mabor Achol Kuer, said on Sunday.

It is not surprising to read such statements from Mabor Achol because the man has been known for his controversial statements in his political life. Previously during his tenure as a commissioner in one of the counties in Greater Yirol, he was quoted as saying “the Agaar’s cattle do not have marks in their foreheads such that they could be easily identified with their herders’. He was then responding to the quest by the Agaar community leaders asking his leadership to recover the cows stolen from the later. This statement has caused him several confrontations and some of us had thought he would be more careful the next time he releases any statement in relation to public issues.

I personally respect the Deputy Governor and his policies especially in the fight against corruption and nepotism in the state institutions. He has since his appointment stood out to be a very objective politician because at some point he would disagree with his bosses on principles of governance and this has all along enabled him built a stable political platform between him and the public. We had hoped he would continue to do the same with regards to safeguarding the bill of rights including but not limited to the freedom of speech, expression, association, political opinion, religion because he is now quoting the Bible etc…

It is also too difficult to blame him for releasing this statement because he has to please his boss at some point considering that he has just been missed by a whisper as the recent government reshuffle left him unseated but instead added to his docket the highest and prestigious ministry of education. He therefore has all the right to defend the government but in this particular case, he has over sped by quoting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Christian doctrines to this incident are that the death of Jesus has been rapidly condemned in the strongest terms possible and that the Christians around the globe rightfully believed that Jesus was innocent and his ultimate death was not the best decision made by his executors. Therefore, if the Deputy Governor could go back to his archives and read on the teachings, the crucifixion, the resurrection and the whole history about Jesus and his crucifixion , he would only end up quoting the bible that ‘ father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing’. So if the Deputy Governor crucify these journalists and activists when and if they capture them, then the victims would simply say, ‘God forgive this government for it do not know what the purpose for the bill of rights is’ in the Transitional Constitution.

Negative criticisms as he intends to portray and Crucifixion in regard to Jesus Christ have diverse connotations and the Deputy Governor should have had the wisdom to select his statements very carefully.

Nevertheless, the question of crucifying people of south Sudan by a certain level of government is an element of insecurity and it is unfortunate that the government that is entrusted with protecting the lives of the citizens is threatening them with crucifixion. The changes in Lakes state of removing the duly elected governor were prompted by rampant insecurity and the president in his own wisdom selected General Matur Chut Dhuol to go and restore sanity in that state. This also means that insecurity cannot only be about sectional fights, cattle rustling, crimes and street gangs but it may also be caused by reckless statements like this particular one by the Deputy Governor. Insecurity does not only mean seeing dead corps but also means when there are intentions of intimidating, threatening, scaring someone away from living in their rightful homes. The Deputy Governor seemed to have not considered the negative repercussions his statement entails in regard to the general policies of his government and security situation of lakes state in particular.

What do I advise?

Personally, I still want Mabor Achol Kuer to remain relevant in the political landscape of Lakes State because together with General Matur Chut Dhuol as his boss, we can be rest assured of a corruption free Lakes State and perhaps the insecurity will with time subside if the stringent measures that the caretaker governor introduced are critically followed. However, I want the Deputy Governor to observe the following;

If the Deputy Governor takes into account some of these unsolicited advises from me, his citizen, I think he will have a brighter political destiny.

Juma Mabor Marial is a lawyer based in Juba. Reachable at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

By Juma Mabor Marial

April 17, 2013 (SSNA) -- It is two now days since President Kiir issued his presidential decree No. 3/2013 withdrawing the delegated powers from the vice president Riek Machar. This decision brought about mixed reactions and quite a substantial number of opinions have so far suggested that this is not about delegated powers per se but it is largely about the on-going political bickering and leadership shadow boxing within the political bureau and the SPLM party. These calculations are tempting to be ruled out as these are indeed the hidden secrets that compounded the power struggle within the ruling party.

These factors later on but now, let us just go to the rationale (if any) of the presidential decree withdrawing the delegated powers of the vice president and the subsequent decree that dissolved the national peace and reconciliation committee, the question that I initially had to asked and all of you could be anxious to ask is, “did the president have to go public in his decision of withdrawing the delegated powers from his vice president”? Mine is a resounding NO. why, because the prudence behind the ‘term delegation or delegated ‘is relative and quite prerogative to the extent that, the president like any other boss in his own right can withdraw by implications the trust that he has bestowed upon his vice and possibly tell him one on one that, he will no longer send him here and there, the president can as well remain silent and choose to delegate other people to do the work that is supposed to be done by his vice at his pleasure, this will indirectly tell the vice president that he is no longer relevant because the president no longer trust him with major government projects. There is a recent example that I must relate to you about these kinds of things. closer home when Kenya was preparing to go to the general elections, president Kibaki was caught up with the choice of picking a successor and because there were so many candidates who were eyeing his endorsement, he decided that, in order to play his cards safely, he had rather started right away and from then on, he forgot about his vice president Kalonzo Musyoka who was not his favorite choice and whom he doubted would be a spoiler in his plans to bring Uhuru Kenyatta to state house. He rapidly delegate Musilia Mudavadi who was then the Deputy prime minister and all he intended was to tell Kalonzo indirectly that, ‘man if you don’t relent on your desire to block Uhuru, then know that, I can always have a choice against you even before the general elections’ this change of events drawn Kenyan into serious arguments and endless debates but in simple terms, it was a withdrawal of powers by Kibaki from Kalonzo Musyoka by implications. Mr. Kibaki didn’t care whether Mr. Mudavadi was called his project or otherwise. He was determine to deter Kalonzo and that, he ultimately achieved.

Now, let’s come back to Kiir and his ‘brother’ Riek, in my opinion, the president could have silently make use of his closest confidants to stripe the so called delegated powers of the vice president instead of wasting time on writing a decree. The president could have send the people that he had earlier sent to investigate Riek on the desire to contest in SPLM to also act for him in things that he use to delegate Dr. Riek to do for him.

What would have been Different?

The people of south Sudan would have been glued to their Television sets and their ears fixed to the local radios if the president had decreed the suspension of the vice president powers under article 105 of the transitional constitution of south Sudan 2011 for the best reasons known to him. This would have made great news although it could have been disastrous and volatile news at the same time.

However, with my non-acceptance of what transpired, I still strongly feel that, Kiir wanted to pass one strong message to Dr. Riek that, “you think you have people in the ground, am still the president of this republic, your political oxygen is squarely in my bare hands and you should be careful how you try to compete against me’. Kiir also wanted to taste the popularity of his decrees to the public in the political aspects and if the reaction is not overwhelming, then he may as well thumb his chest and say, ‘am still in control’, so all in all, Kiir is threatening Dr. Riek that ‘don’t think about SPLM, else you will find yourself in your house before the convention.’

The what I would called ‘damage control’ by the Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin to me does not hold any waters in the current political developments, following are what he had to say when he addressed the Journalists yesterday in Juba regarding the decree withdrawing the Vice President delegated powers that:  “Riek Machar is still a vice president with all constitutional powers. General Salva Kiir Mayardit is still a president with all his constitutional powers. They are all in office. What the president had done is that he had withdrawn powers he had previously delegated to the vice president. It is like you asking me to do some work for you when you are preoccupied. This is exactly what happened and it should be understood in this context”, Marial said Tuesday. He added that “There is no difference that I know between the vice president and the president. The two leaders have been closely working together on all issues of national value”.

That is also what I would call ‘rat and Mouse Game’ in Marial’s sentiments. What Benjamin does not understand about this job of his is that, he can always be loyal to his boss and report in his favor but also, he has an equally significant obligation to tell the public of south Sudan the truth. He cannot lie to the people that, there is no problem between the two artificial brothers (Riek & Kiir) and this is already in the public domain. What is needed now is, ‘what are the necessary conflict resolution mechanisms  people like Benjamin exploring to avoid the situation from escalating into a different dimension that will negatively affects the lives and progress of the people of south Sudan’. To say that there is no conflict between Riek and Kiir is like dangling the Christmas bell in the ears of the people of south Sudan and I think Marial should be told that we know better than what he think he want to tell us, we need new solutions to those political bureau and the SPLM power wrangle.

The decree suspending the holding of the national reconciliation conference and dissolution of the committee thereof:

My first reaction to this fact was that the president had overreacted because the commission on peace and reconciliation should not have been seen to be a brief case project for the vice president such that the withdrawal of his delegated powers could be done concurrently with the dissolution of the commission, but later on as the details of the conflicted unfolded, I was convinced that, this commission was a sole project of the vice president and some of his closest cronies and the office of the president was never happy with it and it leadership from  day one. The reasons for the decision emerged that, with the removal of the vice president from the committee, the office of the president can now work on installing its own cronies to eat into the funding that have been appropriated  to the project. So in simple terms, ‘it is, you have eaten enough Mr. vice president, it is now my turn to eat the remaining share with my cronies’ kind of scenario.

Otherwise, if there were no individual interests in the national peace and reconciliation commission, I don’t see any legitimate reason why it should have been incorporated as an ingredient to this political conflict, the people of south Sudan need to move forward and the commission was a milestone in this journey. So it was to say the least useless to drag the commission into this problem.

In conclusion, I wish to offer my free legal advice to the president and his advisors that, next time when you want to embarrass someone, do it in your offices without giving the public uneasy time, because believe me, you, I couldn’t sleep that night when this news was read out and I think most of you did not, the president and his advisors had created unnecessary political tension and this is something they should have handled quietly and neatly. From now on, you must know that ‘delegated powers’ are freely and willingly given by any particular boss and they are or can be withdrawn at will, so there was no need to inform us about it, however, the point of giving the strong message to Dr. Riek being the underlying factor is recognized but again, use other mechanisms next time.

As for the people of south Sudan, politicians are funny animals and can only be likened to foxes family, they can trick you to do what they would not do and recently in Kenya, Raila Odinga after losing to Uhuru Kenyatta in the presidential elections behaved as if he was never going to reconcile with Uhuru and some four (stupid) people committed suicide because of him after the supreme court ruled in favor of Uhuru upholding his presidential elections as legitimate. Two days after Uhuru was sworn in and Raila came back from south Africa, the later was invited to state house Nairobi and the four, (president Uhuru Kenyatta, deputy President William Ruto and the losers Raila and Kalonzo musyoka) had lunch together, get into the jovial mood anyone would ever see and spent splendid time together and one blocker after seeing the pictures of their cordial meeting wrote on Facebook and I must quote “what if we had killed ourselves”.

These are the politicians for you and my honest advice now in this case is that, we should take the decision made by the president as purely leadership wrangle between him and his deputy and should not be taken out of context to cause disunity among the ordinary citizens because at the end, these two gentlemen will be seen sharing several other issues as they are now doing. Let’s take the Kenyan blocker spirit and for that I say “why should we kill ourselves for this duo”

Juma Mabor Marial is a Lawyer and Lives in Juba. Reachable at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .