Unforeseen Challenges of Independence
Had we trained ourselves in self-governance? Had we forecasted what a peaceful society looked like? What would it mean for those who were actively “employed” as guerrillas? Had we trained ourselves in the management of a nation? Had we trained ourselves to be united by the love of a common national vision rather than common hatred of the Arab oppression? Had we trained ourselves to harness the great wealth that we had in our nation for the good of all? Had we learned to be unselfish toward each other? Had we learned unity in diversity instead of tribalism? Had we learned to harness the strengths and potential of each people group?
Suddenly, South Sudanese were not recipients of handouts and food drops from World Food Program. The food drops had ceased, and people were being equipped with farming implements and seeds so that they could plant their own food. That meant hard work, farming, planting, waiting for the rain or irrigating the land, harvesting, and other back-breaking but rewarding work. It was so different from looking in the sky when we heard an aeroplane flying over to drop food. That needed a great mindset change. During the seven years, we should have quickly equipped our people in farming and oriented them to the reality and beauty of hard work to bear fruit.
While it was exciting to be back home, skilled labour was scarce. Many who had been fighting in the bush were illiterate or semi-literate. Now there was no more fighting, and they needed to return and settle in their communities. No one had ever developed a vision to prepare the people for the days of peace.
Now, men had to get jobs to provide for the families they had abandoned for many years with the excuse that they “were in the bush”. In the bush, there was responsibility only for one-self and not for a wife and children. So, the role of fatherhood and being a good husband to provide for family was a foreign one too. There were quite a lot of challenges in this area. Had the church known during the seven-year period, it would have trained its members in the Godly patterns of family and the responsibilities of each member.
People now had to get work and it meant being skilled in something. Many knew how to handle a gun and how to set ambushes for enemies. They had never thought of developing their minds for a peaceful scenario. Neither the church nor the government had made such provisions or plans at the national level.
They did not have the disciplines that one picks in a learning environment, to sit and think, be creative and come up with innovative solutions to various challenges. The only way they knew how to solve challenges was through elimination or through the use of force and violence. So, it was a whole new scenario.
Had the church known, it would have come up with as many vocational training opportunities, and adult literacy classes to help the population get up to speed in terms of skills. Secondly, it was not easy because foreigners and other Sudanese who had gained education in the refugee camps and in other nations had also returned.
They got all the good jobs while those who had been fighting on the ground remained redundant. They took to alcoholism and substance abuse to alleviate the levels of depression that were setting in.
We began to turn against ourselves; finding fault in each other, tribalism set in because some of our leaders were suspicious of each other. We had never learned a better way of governance than what we had seen happening in the north.
Unfortunately, we replicated the same patterns of leadership, giving all positions of power to those of our own tribes, clans, and families even when they were not qualified. We segregated those who were of other tribes and ideologies. We marginalized, killed, or oppressed any seemingly progressive, wealthy, or intellectual person who seemed like a threat to the status quo.
Many spiritual leaders were recruited to work with the government as advisers. They soon got mixed up with their work schedule and threw God out of their timetable.
God was forgotten as we pursued positions of influence, wealth and favour with government leaders. Many took to giving false prophecies to the leaders so that they could gain favours, promotions, and gifts. All this happened within the first two years of our independence.
Many resorted to spiritual idolatry, using witchcraft to fortify themselves in government positions. Many did not know how to handle power and authority in the nation, while they held their testimony as Christians. Soon they were behaving just like any other person who did not know God. They drank, committed adultery, polygamy, witchcraft, got involved in mischief stole and became as corrupt as any other ungodly leader.
No one was going to give the nation a chance to get on its feet. South Sudan was expected to start operating at optimum levels as soon as the ink dried on the independence declaration. They were expected to hit the ground running and to operate like any other regular nation. It was a very tall order for us because a larger percentage of the nation was either illiterate or semi-literate.
In addition, with the new government came a large endowment fund to help rebuild the nation from the international community. Billions of dollars were released to the new government. Unfortunately, within that government, there was little or no knowledge of how to handle national funds. There was no written national vision which was being followed. The vision had always been to be liberated from the north and that was all that had held us together as a nation. Few people had visualized a progressive nation beyond the release from “captivity” to the north.
Now that we had achieved that goal, all manner of resources were now available to achieve a national vision; but there was no vision. So, we experienced some of the grossest forms of corruption amongst our leaders both in the government and in the church. The poor literacy of the nation was taken advantage of.
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Paul Deng Joshua Leek will be launching this book on the 17th of September at the Rebuilding Ministries International, Green Rokon, Juba, South Sudan, from 3.30 pm. Welcome!