Thank U my dear !!!!!

Sometimes we get caught up in life that we forget to thank those who make it worth living.
If I could list the names of those who have blessed my life, there would not be enough room to do so though I know that my mom would take the top of the list. I can’t forget that somebody like you is placed among the first five of the long list of those have supported and made my life what it is today.
In silent ways and in great waves, thank for your inspiration, your love, your jokes, your advice, your kindness, your wisdom and your smiles. Those are not the few good things I can remember about, the list of good things about you is quite gigantic and outsized but my simple and small brain cannot remember all those good things altogether but I hope together you can picture this feeling with me now. In simple gestures you remind me of how blessed I am to occupy this 'space,' at this time and with you.
You give me hope and rejuvenate my excitements at times. You guarantee me that life is more than I sometime believe it to be. Or that I am way off my head. I am not receiving a great reward to elevate the significance of this moment. However, this is in thanks to the gift and the reward. That is, the life that you have given me by contributing to the fabric of my thinking and living.
The 'platform I stand on,' 'the stage' that supports my ideas of others and of self hopefully, reflects the knowledge and the wisdom gained from you. As we grow and outgrow ourselves, as we get old and frail, and if life takes us on different corridors, the corridor that we have travelled have light the strip still ahead.
And in my worst moment and small triumphs I will seek the table of memory' and dust off the old moment to refresh and renew my life myself. So to you all I say thank you.
Especially to my family and my friends and the occasional stranger that smile on a bad day and finally to you.

Be blessed.

SALVA KIIR MAYARDIT, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC ADDRESS TO THE FIRST JOINT SITTING OF THE NATIONAL LEGISLATURE AND TO THE NATION

JUBA 8TH AUGUST, 2011


Your Excellency, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, Vice President of the Republic,

Rt. Hon. James Wani Igga, Speaker of the Joint National Legislature and the National Assembly of the Republic,

Rt. Hon. Joseph Bol Chan, Deputy Speaker of the Joint Sitting and Speaker of the Council of States of the Republic,

Honourable Deputy Speakers of both Houses,
The Honourable Chief Justice of the Republic,
Excellencies, Members of the Executive Caretaker Cabinet,
Honourable Members of this Joint august House,
Religious Leaders,

Representatives from all branches of government and states of the Republic,

Distinguished Members of the Diplomatic Community,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This day is yet another momentous occasion for our nation. The convening of this First Joint Sitting of our two houses: the Council of States and the National Assembly is a historical episode in our life time. These two houses constitute the National Legislature, which is the supreme authority in the land. The interests of the people are fully represented in this noble institution. Thus, allow me the opportunity to congratulate you and welcome you to the first sitting of this august house.

Before I proceed ahead to share with you what I consider to be the pertinent issues of this epoch, please let us rise up and pay tribute to all those who perished in order for this nation to be born. Foremost amongst these heroes and heroines is our great leader and hero, Dr. John Garang De Mabior, whose fond memories are still vivid in our minds (Minutes of silence).

Thank you very much!


Rt. Honourable Speaker,
Honourable members of this august House,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

On July 9th, 2011, we ended a long period of misfortunes by the formal declaration of our independence. We have been occupied, colonized, marginalized and denied our dignity and humanity. This sitting clearly demonstrates the result of our long struggle and the beginning of a new journey for peace, democracy and prosperity. The independence we celebrated a few weeks ago is a great achievement for our people. I am grateful to have witnessed the birth of our nation and to you all comrades, congratulations for being pioneer citizens of this new nation! We are indeed a lucky lot because history has favoured us to be alive to witness this great moment of emancipation. Let us recreate ourselves, let us find new ways, new thinking and be ready to learn in order to adequately meet new challenges. We should not take anything for granted. Instead every challenge should be considered an opening for greater opportunities and triumphs. I urge all of you to seize the opportunities and accept the challenges of the future.

The freedom we have just achieved endows us with power and mandate. In return we must manage what is given to us with utmost care and responsibility. Moreover, as a sovereign body representing the sovereign will of the people of the Republic of South Sudan (RSS), it is incumbent upon this august House to manage the affairs of this land in order to deliver on what we promised to our people. While debating matters of national interest, it is important that we put the well being of our people and nation first. Our people have waited patiently for so long. It is time we act and we do so without delay. Therefore, the two houses must complement each other rather than compete against one another. This is expected of you in the conduct of business and this is critical for nation-building.

As a people who have navigated from far it may not be easy to forget the pains of the past. Our hearts are still heavy with the anguish of history. That notwithstanding we must be brave and wise enough to resist revisiting the past and we must embrace the future. We will not forget the past but the sacrifices of our martyrs will keep us consoled to be worthy of freedom and concentrate all our energies on nation-building. If we deviated away from the core objectives of our liberation struggle, the sacrifices made by many will be for nothing. We were able to achieve our objectives because of the sacrifices of our martyrs and the long suffering of our people. The rewards of our heroes and heroines lie in our future and in the realization of our vision. And it is also in this future and in the realization of this vision that we can fulfill the pledges we have made to our people.

Rt. Honourable Speaker,
Honourable members of this august House,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our dreams and hopes can only be met through hard work so that they can become a reality. A democratic and stable South Sudan will contribute to regional and international peace and prosperity. Remember, our independence also has its burdens and we must be ready to face them headlong. As I have pointed out in my past appeals, the worst experiences of the past and those of other nations must be considered in order for us as a new nation not to repeat them. We should not defend ourselves by using the failures of others as a threshold. Let us build our country by striving towards what others have achieved successfully.
As we move forward, the most serious challenge and responsibility we face is what we can deliver for future generations? What would be the best way to honour our heroes and heroines? I said it during Martyrs Day and I will repeat it here that there is nothing material to offer worth the sacrifices of our martyrs. What is worth the ultimate sacrifice they made is for us to build this nation. Nation-building requires cohesion, hard work, honesty and altruism. While I will continue to urge you to work harder, I am already at work. My next government will do the best it can to enhance the welfare of its citizens. Building a nation is not an easy enterprise. It takes time and in most cases those who build hardly reap the fruits of their own labour. Thus, let us keep in mind that we are here to serve our people and not to enrich ourselves. It is our duty to ensure that future generations must not experience the sufferings we have endured. In other words, let us end the promises and deliver the basic services to our people. Misfortunes of the past should end with us and let us set a brighter future for our people.

Rt. Honurable Speaker,
Honourable members of this august House,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Together with the honourable members of this august Assembly, we must now focus on delivery of basic services to meet the great expectations of our people. This is only possible if we have a government whose first, second and final priorities are public interest, public interest, public interest! Let me make it clear once again that those individuals who are not willing and ready to make the sacrifices necessary to help our people will not be part of this government. Most important, the people of South Sudan will not sit ideally and allow corruption and abuses of public resources to continue unabated. You will agree with me that the people of South Sudan have not only suffered for far too long but they have also waited for basic services for too long. They cannot wait much longer. It is time for delivery and it is also time to put the public interest as the number one priority.

I take this opportunity to announce to this august Assembly that I will appoint the new Government of the Republic of South Sudan this week and according to constitutional requirement I am sending the list of the new cabinet to you for approval. The Ministers that are selected will have to work very hard and be disciplined. The new Government will work towards the ambitious goals set in our National Development Plan, and I will set them to task.

Firstly, for South Sudan as a new nation to develop, we need education. No country has ever achieved development without educating its population. It remains a major challenge that only a minority of our children in South Sudan have access to education. When it comes to girl’s education, it is even worse. All children in our independent country must have the opportunity to go to school. To do this there is a need to scale up education enrolment quickly all over the country. Together with our development partners we can achieve this. We will also encourage our communities to help build schools. To demonstrate our seriousness, within the first 100 days of the new government 30 new primary schools and four new secondary schools will be under construction. Together with our development partners, we will also launch a Teachers Training Development Program aiming at training 7000 teachers in the next three to five years. We are also going to build higher education institutions in the coming years. We cannot afford to lose our next generation leaders because of the absence of higher education institutions.

Secondly, the lack of good health care system in South Sudan has made our nation the most difficult place to live, especially for children and senior citizens. Many people still die because of preventable diseases. Let us be honest, you and I, and indeed our family members can afford to go out of the country to get treatment. But this is not the case for the millions of our people. And it is not because of war, rather because of the absence of health services. It is time to change that by providing basic health services for all our people in the villages, Bomas, Payams and Counties. Through community health programmes we can distribute anti-malarial bed nets to more people and save the lives of our children and their mothers. And we will start now.

Similarly, within the first 100 days of the government and together with development partners, we will make sure that 600,000 children are vaccinated against deadly diseases, including measles, particularly in the four states of Unity, Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Warrap and Upper Nile. And the good news is that 30 community midwives will finalize their training and be ready to be deployed to the rural areas. I also intend, with the support of this august House, to construct 100 small health care centers within the first year of this Administration.

Thirdly, South Sudan cannot develop without infrastructure. Our country is vast, and our communications are limited. Only through the use of roads and rivers can communities connect, agricultural production takes off, businesses flourish, the economy grows, and services are delivered. Infrastructure is at the heart of our development plan. Together with our development partners, we will invest in roads and bridges, and in river transport. But also here, we need our people to give a hand. They can help rehabilitate and construct feeder-roads. With the focus of this august Assembly, together, we can make it happen.

Within the first 100 days of the new government two roads and two airstrips will be opened in Unity and Warrap states. The repairs of Juba Bridge and the construction of a new bridge on the Nile donated by the Government of Japan will get underway. The rehabilitation of four roads will be in process, three in Eastern Equatoria State, Warrap and the Pagak-Mathiang road in Upper Nile.

Fourthly, no country can develop without abiding with basic principles of justice and rule of law. South Sudanese have been at the receiving end of aggression, injustices, arbitrary detention and absence of law and order during decades of war. Now similar incidences have occurred among our own police and security institutions. As I said on Martyrs’ Day, this has to end. Criminality should cease or else those who perpetrate suffering to others will be subjected to the strong arm of the law. It is time to put our own house in order. We need to strengthen law and order, both within our own institutions and among citizens.

Within the first 100 days of our new government, 50 new police stations located throughout the country, will be opened. Two prisons will also be completed. Again together with our development partners the Government will do more.

Fifthly, no country can ensure peace and security and protect its citizens without a modern and professional Army. As a new and independent country, we will complete the transformation of the SPLA into a national army. For this to happen successfully, the Government must put in place programs that would provide new opportunities for former SPLA soldiers.
Within the first 100 days, we will launch our new programme for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR). We will provide tailored programmes to give them a new start.

These are just but few caveats for the beginning. We have got more daunting tasks in front of us – development, development and development! And development does not only come with the donors or with oil money. As I said earlier it requires hard work and discipline. For example, the Republic of South Sudan should never depend on imports of food or handouts. We are endowed with fertile land. I said it and I will repeat it now; we must till the land to produce food. This is a moral responsibility for citizens – work, work, work and work! I want to reiterate again, a prosperous nation is not made up of indolent citizens, because laziness is useless. As pioneer members of this joint august Parliament, I call upon you all to help mobilize our communities to service in order to help develop our nation. We can only achieve our ambitious development goals if all of us dedicate ourselves to develop our country and pull together with unity of purpose.

On Independence Day I made it clear that from now onward we do not have any excuses or scapegoats. It is our responsibility to protect our land, our resources and ourselves and to develop our country. Moreover, the goat is dead therefore there is no one to blame!

Rt. Honourable Speaker,
Honourable members of this joint august sitting,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

For South Sudan to succeed, we need to abide with the principles of transparency and accountability. Only then can we build a strong foundation for our new nation. Another word for corruption is stealing and it is called ‘stealing’ because money which should have gone to build our country is stolen by selfish persons. Those who engage in corruption are undermining our country and the sovereignty of the Republic of South Sudan. To borrow from our liberation laws, join me in defining corrupt persons as the enemies of the people. We must therefore fight corruption with dedication, rigour and commitment. And that is why, on Independence Day, I pledged to the people, the nation and the heads of state and government present that I would do all that I could to remove this cancer.

Most important, let me put a human face on what corruption does to our people and country. With the amount of funds stolen over the past six years and half; we could have saved thousands of our citizens from unnecessary deaths and suffering, building more than a dozen of schools and hospitals, and feed many of our citizens.

At this juncture, allow me to take permission from this august Assembly to outline key priority expectations of your business in the first 100 days. This requires us to change the way we have been doing things and become more disciplined. For example, timekeeping has been one of the worst vices of the old Sudan. This honourable legislative body has loads of work to deliver to this nation, critical amongst which is legislation itself. We must pass crucial laws to cement our sovereignty and independence. There is need to work even extra harder in order to expedite the process of legislation and achieve the following:

One, in the first 100 days I will make sure that the new Government of the Republic of South Sudan passes 5 essential laws to establish full transparency and accountability in the management of our financial resources, natural resources and oil. Thus, we will send to Parliament a Public Financial Management and Accountability Act, a Procurement Act, an Internal Audit Act, a Petroleum Act for regulating the management of oil resources, and an Oil Revenue Management Law for sustainable and transparent management of the oil income.

Several of these laws are already prepared, and all of them will hold international standards. This is an essential part of putting our new Republic on a solid foundation cemented by the blood of our martyrs. I call upon you, the National Legislature of the new Republic of South Sudan, to process and pass these laws without delay. We need them to take effect as soon as possible.
Two, implementation of these Acts is essential. Within the first 100 days, the Republic of South Sudan will develop an implementation plan to put these policies into practice. This includes rules of procedures for our public service and large-scale training of staff. Here, we will have to ask for external assistance and support. We need to be ready to implement expeditiously as soon as Parliament passes these laws.

In the first 100 days, the Audit Chamber and the Anti Corruption Commission will also be strengthened. We will have audits underway in three of the most significant spending government ministries and agencies. We will take action on their findings and as I have pointed out before there will be no loopholes for people who are addicted to mishandling public resources. There will be no sacred cows this time round. Moreover the Anti-Corruption Commission has already been granted the right to independent investigations but the institution itself also requires restructuring. I will urge the Commission to make use of this right within the first 100 days. The Commission and its members will have my full support as President of the Republic.

Three, implementation always starts at home with us as political leaders. In all South Sudanese communities stealing is seen as deeply shameful! We all know what happens in our cultures and communities, particularly, if one is caught stealing? The community will start composing songs against you, and the whole family will be disgraced. Your children will have difficulties getting married respectably, and you cannot even become a chief or be in any position of authority.

I always wonder what has happened to these core values of our communities. It seems that people have forgotten them. This has to change and with determination it will change. We must set new standards to be eligible for public office. When the government is appointed I will make these standards clear to the public, and I will expect every Minister and civil servant to abide by these standards. The Republic of South Sudan will expect nothing less from those who serve our newly independent country.

With these actions, I hope we will have taken the first critical steps to put our new country on a solid footing. Remember no government performs well without checks and balances. The primary role of Parliament is, therefore, essential in this process. I request you, our Parliamentarians and our international partners, to assist us and to hold us responsible in the implementation process of these pledges. I will report back to you on all these deliverables when our first 100 days have passed. I promise you that this time, we will deliver.

Rt. Honourable Speaker,
Honourable Members of this Joint Assembly,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I shall be remiss if I do not say something about the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), particularly about the issues that are still outstanding. I would like to reassure all that Abyei is not a forgotten cause because we will remain actively seized of the matter until a final resolution is found. We are all aware that the United Nations Security Council has authorized the deployment of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) in order to ensure resettlement of the people of Abyei back in their homes. I trust that a final solution will be found that will reflect the true will of the people of Abyei. I am equally committed to ensuring peace and security along our common borders and the spirit of good neighbourliness is one of the guiding principles of our foreign policy. The massive attendance of the world during our independence celebrations is testimony that we are a friendly people. We will continue to engage with all our neighbours, particularly with the leadership in the Republic of the Sudan to build strong relations because we share a long border.

Finally, I would like to repeat what I said during the declaration of independence. Let us continue to celebrate our hard won freedom but we must always be sober to wake up the following day and work. I reiterate my appeal to this august House that this new nation is yours and let us commit ourselves to build it with optimism. Hard work is a virtue and in just a matter of time, we will prosper. There is nothing impossible and as it is said: ‘If there is a will there is a way’. The role of government is to provide a conducive atmosphere while citizens must join hands and work. We will issue comprehensive priorities for the next five to ten years as soon as the new cabinet is constituted.

Let me say this again we cannot prosper as a nation without the unity and harmony of our people. We must accept our diversity and use our difficult past experiences to grow. We must work harder and harder so that in five years change must be apparent. Government will ensure that there is no hindrance or obstacle and people should go about doing their businesses in safety and without any kind of fear.

As for you the honourable members of this joint august House, legislation is your first order of business and I wish you all well in this national duty. I am always available and my office is there to attend to urgent national needs and emergencies.
Let us start to work right away.

Thank you all and may God bless South Sudan!

The More Girls Bleach, the More Boys Drink Alcohol

Most of the times some of my colleagues in the art of writing have posted articles that cursed the new attitude seen with our girls who bleach in deep search for beauty. Of course this activity has brought down our proud culture and our given African color of black.

Nowadays it is very difficult to find a girl maintaining her original skin. Every girl is under big temptation of trying to become white. As girl reaches the age of around thirteen and above, the African original color of her dear skin shall turn lighter and lighter. And the black skin disappears and finally fades out. Her face will be the browner area in her body yet her legs shall remain spotted up with brown color. And the original black color remains scattered around the legs and at hands and fingers. In fact you will find that an African girl is betrayed by her original black color because everybody will know that the girl has bleached as the spots on her body remain evidence.

When I go out-door the first thing I could glance is a girl who applies cream. That alone hurts my feeling. A girl with wrong face is always and easily seen in our streets as well as in our many bus stations and tea places. In working places and education institutions you will find true black African ladies wearing faces with fake brown skins. Faces which are not real. Faces with cream scratches are never avoided at all. The badness of it is that some girls don’t really know how they can nicely apply this dreadful chemical material on their skins just to get the best of their demands in proper application. Because of poor and abrupt approach, they don’t really know the best choice for their skins. So that is why it is common to find girls with cream wounded faces. Other girls keep applying from house to house using different cosmetic cream-types at ago damaging their skin completely. Of course they remain with scarring and sore necks.
However, I have seen that, boys also do carry beer wounded faces. Boys also do go with alcohol wounded legs. They do go out with mouths and lips having alcohol sores. They drink comfortably and as the move out of bars they easily fall down hurting their skins. I have discovered that the more girls apply cream in their faces, the more boys drink alcohol. They are on a serious competition. I don’t know who will win the game.
Up to this extent we would only want to know why girls bleach and why do boys drink? Girls bleach because they want to look beautiful. They think that if their colour of skin is changed to white then they will have possessed more beauty than ever. They have assumption in their minds of becoming whites (kawajat). They think that men shall love them more if they look white. Other girls use it because they think that it is a fashion for everybody and therefore they are forced to do what their friends and age mates do.
On the other hand, boys drink because they want to forget their problems. They want to feel high and proud. They think that they are making good use of their money when spending it on drinks. They have assumption in their minds of becoming wiser. They want to be brave and strong. They have assumption in their minds that forgetting problems is the easier way of solving them. And because of this, most of the addicted drunkards are lazy. They don’t work. They don’t want to solve their problems but just want to forget them and continue drinking and drinking. Yet their problems remain unforgotten and unsolved. And the problems also continue to increase; this is a secret they can’t realize. And in all this, boys are left with diseases like lung-cancer and many other health complications.
For girls who are just rotting their original skins with chemicals they are wrong, men appreciate girls for what they really are, not because of their skin colors. Over time, some blacks believed that looking "white" was more attractive than their natural skin color. But that was all with understanding of colonialism and whites’ superiority.

Anyway, people are confused in this world of today which has no proper parents to stop children from doing bad things. Nowadays, you find an old mother of over fifty applying cream together with her thirteen year old daughter. What does an old mother do with beauty if that is the case? You find people of different age and responsibility having equal childish interest. So here our girls lack mothers at home to give special advice because the mother wants the same thing as the daughter. If the father of the house tells his wife to stop young girls from applying cream, the wife would reply; “these girls are not applying cream in my face.” Imagine!

The situation is the same for the young drunkards whose father drinks. You cannot find a father who drinks advising his son to stop drinking. He will fear talking to his son though he knows very well that both of them are going wrong. Because of these situations our youths whether being girls or boys are in difficult conditions and temptations. They can never find correct teachers at home to follow as their role models. And that is why youths drink as they like and bleach as they desire. As many people can say that bleaching is dangerous for health I think it is the same to say that drinking which is mostly practice by boys is also dangerous for health.

In many states in South Sudan as the number of shops selling creams increase, the number of bars increase as well. If you come in our streets the number of ladies having bleached faces are more as the boys walking in zigzag directions fearing no traffic on public roads, who at the same time speak with their twisted tongues with alcohol smell. Of course the more girls bleach, the more boys drink. Why all this competition on two bad habits?

South Sudan Independence has come, what next?

In the first place one needs to congratulate his country men & women for the achievement of the independence of their beautiful motherland, the Republic of South Sudan. It has been a long walk to freedom. Thanks God for giving us a perfect answer to our century-long prayers for freedom, peace and development in an independent South Sudan. This road to freedom has been walked by all of us in South Sudan, so we are all the achievers of the independence whatsoever the case maybe. It is my right to be happy and say congratulations to everyone because I had also walked the road and had known its cost and price during the journey.

As a person who has understood and attended the struggle for quite long time since my childhood; and indeed knowing very well some of our martyrs we had lost their lives during the process in our long fight for independence and freedom, I had no doubt that the independence would be successfully achieved at the end of the day. I knew very well that the result of Struggle would be finally achieved peacefully. And indeed it happened! I thank Dr. John Garang who simplified the struggle to a referendum vote instead of gun blast because some South Sudanese had tried to betray our rights during the war but they worked very well during the vote of independence because it was a simple struggle. I also thank Salva Kiir Mayardit who swears not to take the people of Sudan back to war because the history would repeat itself. If it were not because of these two men, the freedom would not be achieved believe me or not. I have loved Kiir for giving a good practical explanation to the Khartoum regimes and the world that South Sudanese know how to rule and can successfully rule themselves. It is a challenge none of South Sudanese had dream t for or brought to practice during the limited rule in South Sudan.

In Malakal and maybe anywhere in South Sudan or other places people dropped tears in big amount when the flag of the old Republic of Sudan was lowered followed by the raising of the flag of our young Republic of South Sudan. People cried because they didn’t believe that they were free at last. I felt tears in my two eyes about to fall down to my feet. However, I held my head up straight and stood firmly to avoid any single drop. I managed to do it and I did not cry. I knew that I was free at last so I better rejoice instead to cry. I knew that Garang had paid his life for me and so the enemy was defeated and it was my right to cheer. I also knew that Salva Mayardit was a good and strong leader so I better clap for him and chant for happiness. I knew that I had cried and mourned for so many years and many times for my people I had lost during the war. But date 9 July was for me to beat my chest and say that I love you my ‘motherland.’ It was a day for me to say that my people did not die in vain but they died for a cause.

So, what next? Freedom is achieved and the country is an independent South Sudan. What shall we do? We need our shallow minded politicians to understand peace. We want our politicians to avoid community against community politics and surely hatred need to be buried completely because it has no use at all. We need to change our attitudes in the new nation. The largest country in Africa is divided into two because of its famous longest war giving birth to the newest and the youngest nation in the world. A politician who wants to come to power because power greed need to be well informed that we are tired of him. We need good leader.

And to my dear youths let’s avoid wrong uncles who confuse youths because of their positions. Our sturdy war against laziness must be inaugurated by all strong and energetic youths. We shall speak it clearly with our own lips that laziness and staying clean forever is not a civilization but an evil thought and practice. As youths who fought successfully for independence during referendum and beyond, we need to campaign for peace and unity in South Sudan and I am quite sure that we can. If we are committed then tribalism shall die among our communities. This can be possible if our lips and hearts speak but only for peace and unity shunning hatred and conflict. It is up to youths of this country to work for development or remain the poorest nation in the world. And there would be no reason for struggle if wrongdoings overcome our thoughts and activities. After independence we need peace and development.

The bell of independence rings at our doorpost!

At everyone’s doorpost rings a bell of independence asking each and every one of us to be ready to receive the new baby which shall be soon delivered on July 9th. It was the same bell which was rung on 16 May 1983 and our people responded to it with high spirit and struggle during the war. The same bell was rung when we voted for our motherland and we chose the independence of our nation. Great nations are always founded in the aftermath of blood recession, corpses dry up, bones decompose and equivocal equation solves justly and fairly. In South Sudan one does not really imagine the number of people who died in the war and went uncounted, though sometimes the UN estimates that 2.5 million were killed during the two civil wars in the country. So the independence which is at our doorposts is the price for the lives our brothers and sisters who paid their own blood for the liberation of this country. The loss of 2.5 million lives was sorrow during the war but it will be great happiness on July 9. So it is a great pleasure.



At this time one is in high spirits to find himself being among the survivors of war. One is happy to find himself to witness the people of South Sudan celebrating for freedom on July 9. So in this case it is our real responsibility to complete the vision our departed martyrs. We must make sure that the love of our nation should come first beyond everything. Therefore, we must delete the spirit of tribalism which is scrolling in every person’s brain.




I never like at all when I see that our roads are not constructed, our children having inadequate classrooms and our university students sitting idly at homes without attending their learning. But with our independence we think that our problems shall be overcome one day. We are quite sure that the spirit of no development must change with the coming of South Sudan as an independent state in the world. We would rather need to increase our speed for development and slow down for tribal politics or politics of hatred.



We need to restart our spirit for patriotism as independence approaches because this needs special joint efforts in order to overcome challenges that are ahead of us. That is to say the love of our country should come before the love of our ethnic groups. It is well-known that each of us comes from a certain ethnic community in the South but that cannot be the reason of our conflicts or failures that occur occasionally in our entire region of South Sudan. We cannot blame God for creating us in different communities with different cultures and languages. We must thank God for creating South Sudan rich of so many cultures and languages and for this reason we must be an important and a strong state in Africa and the world.



As days of our independence grow near we would suppose try to search for true unity and love in reality. We should learn that we all belong to each other if we want to build this nation in good spirit and without growing conflicts in it. Whatever language we speak it make no difference, we remain one people in one country of South Sudan which our forefathers fought for and indeed they became heroes and martyrs as we all witnessed.

Why does GoSS sponsor students abroad and leave local universities unprepared?

By Ariik-Dut Atekdit

It has been a long silence since last year that all southern Sudan universities closed down because of referendum. During those days everybody was filled with the referendum spirit of patriotism and an interest to vote for separation. So with no doubt all the students in southern universities accept to go for referendum and come for education maybe after separation results. Of course South Sudan is registered with five national universities of Juba, Upper Nile, Bahr el Ghazal, Rumbek and John Garang University of science and technology.

These universities have not been operational since the time of referendum for reasons best known to Government of South Sudan (GoSS) ministry of Higher education. The five institutions in the new nation are the only existing government departments for human knowledge expansion in higher education and of course they have been on deferment for about five or more months since last year. The GoSS ministry responsible for the universities has been from time to time pushing the regional universities calendars from unknown date to other unpredictable dates ahead of nowhere causing a lot of irregularities. This of course has confused a number of students across the newly born nation as all but none is kept in dilemma. So what is the problem here? We voted for our new nation and we better continue with our education or we shall not be productive.

Rumors say that the ministry of higher education is caught unprepared to welcome faculties with students which used to operate in the north with what they term to be lack of accommodations. However, I can not really agree with that cheap reason put forward by the concerned bodies if it is alleged that way. Repatriating south Sudanese universities from the north to their original places was a decision of long time ago since the formation of GoSS; tongues in Juba have never stopped speaking on this fact. And so everybody knew very well that South Sudan universities would be transferred to their original places in the South even though the country would remain united. This is a simple fact I want to underline. So whether caught unprepared or not everybody knew about it.

I blame GoSS for not constructing any university buildings until now. Building the universities’ infrastructures whether being in Juba, Wau, Malakal or elsewhere would be better if it was done earlier. But I just wonder why our leaders always keep things late until the darkest hours.

The ministry itself is to be blamed of not making possible measures during these five months to build some infrastructures to accommodate the repatriated faculties and students. I would like our leaders to sit down and draw plans and straighten framework that will help these talented students in their quest for education. If it is not done this way, then there is no reason of saying that people want to eliminate illiteracy. It will be purely a support to unwanted illiteracy in the region. Suspending five universities of hundreds of thousands students will not be a wise idea at all.

Whatsoever the case maybe; my question remains: Why does GoSS sponsor students abroad and leave local universities unprepared? This question desires an answer. It is not fair that other hundreds of thousands of students are cheerfully pursuing their various professions in the neighbouring countries under GoSS sponsorship while it is difficult for the same GoSS to build lecture halls or hire lecturers to teach in the South. If the Government in Juba wants to suspend our studies in the south then we want the GoSS abroad-sponsored-students to hold on until the government is ready to build our universities or sponsor all of us if that would be better. I think it is much better and cheaper to widen the standard of our local universities and their infrastructures instead of depending on foreign learning for ages that does not work. It is just a waste of large amount of national resources. It is not wise at all for a country like South Sudan to depend on the neighbouring countries for everything like to say food, other goods including education.

Since January I have not seen any new building being raised in Upper Nile University Malakal campus and yet the ministry says they are working to set up infrastructures for the southern universities; if this situation is the same every where subsequently the future of our students and their universities is at its critical point.

We have seen that children of GoSS officials are not studying in South Sudan. Their children are sent to abroad to search for better education leaving us here in this unsolved situation with numbering conditions. We have so far learnt that our government officials don’t want to improve better education in the south because GoSS sponsor their children abroad. This is not patriotism at all and we need to evaluate our love for the nation more than sticking on the continuous selfishness that has erased ideas of unity and development in our big people’s brains.

Once again it’s not time for us to waste money by offering scholarship in foreign countries. The money that is supposed to be used for the aforementioned foreign scholarship should be used for expanding, renovating and constructing South Sudan universities, in order to accommodate the huge influx of returnee students from North Sudan.