Confronting our Demons: Criminals breed criminals BY: Joana Adams, South Sudan
AUG. 22/2011, SSN; In January 2011, Southerners all over the world voted 98.8%, almost unanimously for the separation of South Sudan to form an independent country. It was such a joy to see the world descending on Juba on July 9th to witness the historic moment of the birth of a new nation attended by African leaders and world leaders. A lot of people have already commented on how disgraceful the planning and management of the celebrations were, and I do not wish to comment any further on the embarrassment brought upon our new nation by the brainless gluttonous leadership in Juba. If these people cannot efficiently manage a celebration event for a few thousand people, in spite of the budget of about 30 million US dollars, how can they run a country of about 8 million people? It is time to wake up from the slumber and euphoria of celebrations and focus on where the Shepard is herding our country to. To understand what is stirring this man and the SPLM government he commands, let us look back to what happened inside the SPLM during the 21 years of struggle. For the saying goes, “you can take a man out of the ghetto, but you cannot take out the ghetto out of him”. Inside the pre-CPA SPLA/M Just before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005, rumors gripped the Southern community worldwide about a possible split in the movement that could wreck signing of the Agreement. The long simmering hostility between the leader of the movement Dr. John Garang and his deputy Salva Kiir Mayardit was about to break open. A conference was quickly convened in Rumbek in November/December 2004 to put this matter to rest. For the second time a split was imminent in the leadership of the SPLA/M, the first having occurred in 1991, when in spite of the well known dictatorship of John Garang, the majority Dinka SPLA preferred to stick by him. What had plagued the movement for 2 decades was extremely bizarre. Although they didn’t win the war, the SPLA/M led a shocking campaign of terror against their own people and boasted that the first SPLA bullets were shot at Southern separatists like Akot Atem and Samuel Gai Tut. These bloodthirsty generals in broad daylight authorized the senseless murder of veteran Southern politicians like uncle Joseph Oduho, imprisoned and eliminated many others. Kiir should apologize to Equatorians There is a long list of atrocities committed against Equatorians including raping of women, girls, grandmothers and even men. Many Equatorians who attempted to join the movement were either slaughtered or used as porters and domestic servants. Now that Dr. Riek Machar has apologized for the “Bor massacre”, shouldn’t Salva Kiir Mayardit who was the Chief of security during Garang’s 21 years reign of terror apologize to Equatorians? >From day one, the SPLA leadership had no sense of morals. Young people were instructed to shoot even their fathers, “salah abuk, wadio talga” and were indoctrinated to use the gun to protect themselves or for making a living through robbing and terrorizing local communities, which they were supposed to be liberating. By legitimizing lawlessness, robbery and indiscriminate killings and other social vices the SPLA/M killed the innocence of South Sudanese and laid the foundation for systematic destruction of the social fabrics of the Southern society. During that extraordinary meeting, the deputy chairman Cdr. Salva Kiir Mayardit said: “The rumours implied that I will be arrested at Ramciel where the Chairman was, so I decided not to go. When I received that rumour, I called the security personnel in Yei and discussed the issue in length with them. I also informed them to find out where the sources of the rumours from Nairobi were coming from, which they did. After I spoke with the Chairman, I also met Cdr. Pieng in Yei for the whole day and he was advising me to join the Chairman in Yirol, which I refused. After that I met Cdr. Kuol Manyang and Cdr. Deng Alor. They came from Nairobi with information that I should go to Nairobi for reconciliation between the two of us. I considered the word reconciliation as something very serious, and therefore decided to tell them that I will not go to Nairobi. The HQs of the Chairman complained that they were calling me and that if I recognized their number, I would switch off the telephone. That is not true; I never received any call from them and switched off my telephone. I assure you that the allegation that I am against peace is not true. I am really for peace so that the International Community could rescue our suffering people. People of Bahr El Ghazal have suffered too much from repeated famine and from the Arab militias; and for these reasons I am the first to embrace peace to relieve them from suffering. Peace efforts such as the Wunlit Peace Conference have up to date ceased hostilities between Western Upper Nile and Bahr El Ghazal; and that is good. So I need peace. There are those who want to create confusion in the Movement and fabricate such things. I don’t have personal problem with the Chairman”. In a shocking revelation the commanders revealed that by 2004 the SPLA had no army! Cdr. James Oath. “I greet the gathering. When the movement started you were seven (7) and now you are only two; five died having problems with you (Dr. John). Why do you have problems with your colleagues? The leadership has disabled the movement, so why keep it? Why is there a GMC, because it has never met until now? There is no SPLA ready to fight, and for me there is no army to order. If I am ordered to arrest Cdr. Salva, I do not have an army to arrest anyone. Even the Chief of Staff cannot order me to do anything because there is no army. There is no chance to meet the C-in-C; it will take long time to meet him. This is not good, therefore a committee must be formed now to sort everything out” . If by 2004, the SPLA had no army how comes that in just six years the SPLA is one of the largest army on the African continent? CDr. Malik Agar. The current issue of the differences between the Chairman and his deputy is surprising in that I was aware of this even ten years ago. Whenever it is about to be addressed, each of them says there is no problem. The big problem is trust among yourselves. This needs to be rebuilt and you will be the ones to arrive at sound solutions to the existing problems. Comrade Chairman, as we enter the new era, we shall be competing with other parties. Let us start with the effective establishment of our structures and draw up our programmes. We need a system. I have worked as a Governor for ten (10) years; yet, I could have committed many mistakes during that time. Has the Chairman any day called me to tell me that I have made a mistake? There is no system here”. In the meeting, leadership style of the John Garang was condemned by nearly all his commanders. Read the lamentations of Commander Wani Igga about the exclusion of Equatorians which has not abated. The man who mediated the reconciliation conference was Salva’s current deputy, Riek Machar, who is now being marginalized. One would have thought that as an under-dog during the regime of John Garang, Salva Kiir would have learnt lessons and wouldn’t like others to experience the same. No, apparently not. On the contrary, he wants to out-do his late predecessor. Cdr Salva charging at his boss said: “If we are National Leaders, which I don’t believe we are because we have no cohesion within our leadership structure, let us be sincere with ourselves. After meetings are concluded, we run to foreign countries. There is no code of conduct to guide the Movement’s structures. When the Chairman leaves for abroad, no directives are left and no one is left to act on his behalf. I don’t know with whom the Movement is left with; or does he carry it in his own brief case? The Chairman killed the national Executive Council (NEC) by creating the leadership Council. But there is no provision in the Convention for a Leadership Council. Does he want to revive the Political Military High Command? The Leadership Council creates a situation where all are directly reporting to the Chairman; including SPLM County Secretaries. When I mentioned these facts, they should not be construed to be my personal or family problems. Those around the Chairman don’t tell him the opinion of the public. The Chairman is everything, from a finance officer to one at the lowest level. Corruption, as a result of the lack of structures, has created a lack of accountability which has reached a proportion that will be difficult to eradicate.” As you read the minutes, one of the things which came up time and again was the fact; John Garang consistently established parallel structures and disabled legitimate ones. Or that he would appoint you into a position and then appoint someone else to do the job - the policy of divide and rule. He was also accused of being good in talking but less effective in delivering on his pledges which has now been copied by his apprentice Salva Kiir Mayardit. For 6 years he has paid lip service to so called “zero tolerance” on corruption when he has been the god father of wanton corruption in GoSS. Nepotism and favoritism Cdr. Deng Monydit. “Greeted everyone and praised the leaders for coming together. He stated his appreciation of the response given by the leadership. I want to say I am happy to discuss what was about to be stolen from us, and it is not the concern of those in London. This struggle is not the private property of anybody. Whoever says the Movement is his property is wrong, for the movement is for all”. Cdr. Garang Mobil. I thank the leaders. Since 1997 I decided to stay in my house because I did not believe that our problems should be solved by violence. Facts must be stated now in order to solve them once and for all. On the, orphans; there were six (6) members who died and only two (2) are left. The question I want to discuss today, is that there is a problem but the Chairman keeps saying there are no problems, only a gap between him and Cdr. Salva. He will not accept there are problems in the New Sudan. But if the problem is not solved, there will be no peace. I also want to say that the movement is in the hands of a few and many are alienated. National resources must be shared by all, no matter how small it is. The structures are controlled by a few minority groups, and this must be sorted out now in Rumbek. This minority group is the problem; hand picking people must stop now because it is creating problems”. The Chairman was accused of nepotism and handpicking people into positions without any agreed procedures; those handpicked become members of his inner circle and wielded enormous power in addition to sharing in the loot. Garang had for a long time modeled himself on northern politicians like Sadiq al Mahdi and Mohammed Mirghani and the Islamic scholar Hassan Al Turabi, with whom he had ambivalent relationships. While he hated the northern feudal lords, he also admired the wealth and power they wielded over their constituencies and aspired to become like them. Commanding visible authority, Cdr. Pagan Amum Okech, said: “ Comrade Chairman, I will focus on the crucial issue, but before that, I want to tell you this. We are here to discuss the rumours that have been circulating and which almost created a very serious development within the movement’s liberated areas,in Khartoum and among the Diaspora. My advice is to the Southerners who have fought for the last twenty two (22) years. I am first going to concentrate on the recent rumours. Cdr. Gier happened to ring me asking me whether I came across information from Yei that the leadership have met and decided to remove him from the second position. I advised Cdr. Gier not to believe that because it is a rumour, and if it spreads, it will create confusion. He then heeded my advice. Again Cdr. Deng Alor phoned to me on the same issue, but I also told him that these are rumours and Cdr. Salva should not believe such rumours. There had been meetings in Khartoum and there was a public statement made by Uncle Bona Malual and retired General Joseph Lagu. If the enemy succeeds in dividing us, it may lead to our failure and peace may not be achieved. Cdr. Pagan urged the meeting to ignore Southerners who have not “fought” and called even former liberators enemies! Deception: Do something wrong deliberately but blame your enemy and the people will believe you. Throughout the CPA implementation, Southerners were kept to focus on the “jellaba” (northerners) while the president, his ministers and generals got away with murder. If the Rumbek conference was a verdict of no confidence by the commanders on the leadership of John Garang he won their support by scare mongering that if they did not support him, their movement would be hijacked by outsiders. They knew that he had embezzled the movement’s money but could hold him to account: As Cdr. Wani Igga (current Speaker of the Assembly) confirmed: There is corruption which remains rampant in the Movement. Corruption must be fought for example, some years back the Chairman in a meeting informed us that Cdr. Deng Alor brought some money from Nigeria, but how that money was spent had never been explained to us again. I ask the question where is the transparency and accountability we talked about?”. But Chairman Garang reassured them that their time for sharing in the loot will soon come. It was alleged that he promised the commanders that there would be no auditing during the interim period hence they too could use the time to financially build up themselves and their families. This was an attractive offer. The SPLM would be in charge of the oil revenue for the South during the interim period hence all those who lost out in the bush would have the opportunity to bid goodbye to poverty for good. Differences were resolved and when “the boat” came to take the rest across the river Jordan, the master was right, the prosperity was phenomenal. The oil money is a windfall. Thanks to Gen. Beshir’s NCP government which developed and exploited the oil resources which could have still been buried underground then they would have had nothing to squander. Men must sweat for what they reap otherwise they attach no value to it. Cdr. Oyai Deng. I want to add my voice of being happy to participate in this meeting. When the movement started, you were seven (7) and now you are only two (2) remaining. Some said that you conspired against those who died and now you are conspiring against yourselves. I am shocked to hear Cdr. Salva talk here only about Bahr El Ghazal and not the South in general give he is a leader for all. I strongly agree with Cdr. Salva that when the Chairman goes away, he locks the South in his bag. This is wrong. Cdr. Salva has the right to question anything wrong. There is a problem that must be solved by taking the right decisions. Dr. Justin Yac (late) The Chairman is good for external contacts but within his own institutions he is not good. The Chairman is good in talking but poor in doing things. The Cdrs. Condemned him the day before and I quote Cdr. Salva who said that Dr. John does not forget and does not forgive, and who ever quarrelled him ended up dead. Many people know the Chairman’s abilities and weaknesses for the last twenty-two years. The Chairman can impress people when he talks, but lacks action. The commanders the day before gave the Chairman grade F because he failed to adequately answer the issues raised by Cdr. Salva. The Chairman should not think that he is always right; rather he must admit his mistakes. The Chairman must work with a team and not be a leader of the NLC and Chairman of SPLM. Leadership must be collective. The officers the other day faced the Chairman with hard facts, but we have not been telling the Chairman the truth. We are also to blame. The Chairman should respond to issues of structures to avoid the recurrence of this problem. The Chairman can listen and write on issues, but he always discards them. The Chairman has been everything ever since the movement started. I call upon the Chairman to work with people and not alone. The Chairman should know that he has been wrong because some of the members have not been telling him the truth. Some leaders should be blamed for not doing their part, for many have not been doing things properly. I repeat what Cdr. Salva said that Dr. John does not forget and forgive. So I want to say that those without guns are vulnerable. The Cdrs. Are secure because they have guns to protect themselves from the Chairman, but I ask, who is going to protect those of us without guns. It was quite unbelievable that although for nearly 10 years Salva Kiir and John Garang were harboring animosity towards each other, the policy of denial and its twin brother deception were already deeply entrenched in the movement. In public the duo were quick to deny that they had any problems at all. Salva on his part maintained that the only problem they had was administrative. This contrasted sharply to what the deputy said about his boss in private: “ Dr. Garang never forgives and who ever disagreed with him ended up dead.” Setting Parallel Structures 4. Justice Ambrose Riny. I greet the Leadership and SPLA officers. In 1994 the Convention created institutions. When I talked about the independence of the Judiciary, many officers reacted against it. It was the intervention of the Chairman who permitted the Committee to complete its work. There have been difficulties and roadblocks by those who did not want a system. There have been difficulties in implementing the resolutions. In 2004, the leadership Council was set up to replace the NLC and NEC. The Leadership Council has no legal base to exist. The Chairman dissolved legally instituted organs of the movement as contained in the national convention of 1994, but unilaterally established illegal institutions which are not supported by any legal provisions of the convention thereof. Mr. Arthur Akuien. I am being called the Finance Secretary but without any finance. I want to point out that the rumours have been destructive and that the leadership style encourages such rumours. I want to say that the Chairman does not delegate powers to his deputies. The Chairman is responsible for creating this crisis in the movement.On the structures, there are structures. But the Chairman after appointing someone to a position does not work with him, but he will appoint someone else to do the work, which is wrong. The Chairman creates all these problems within the system, and this is why he is being blamed. I also point out when a senior person tries to discipline a junior, the Chairman always fails to solve the problem among the staff and instead interferes. The leadership style of the Chairman;s work is bad and cannot be corrected. The Chairman has not been doing well in his job and he may be forced to leave his office before six years. Setting up parallel institutions was the strategy used by John Garang to demoralize and humiliate some of his critics. Though it was Mayardit, who accused Dr. Garang of side-lining him in favour of the kitchen cabinet, after Garang’s death, the practice did not die but flourished to the extent that by 2007, some ministers were crying foul that major cabinet decisions were being taken outside but imposed on the Council of Ministers for rubber stamping only. The kitchen cabinet is composed of men and women from the President’s home area, who meet regularly under the cover of darkness. The policy of parallel institutions is symptomatic of Kiir’s administration. Recently, the second chamber of Parliament, the Councils of States was formed. This chamber will be used to disable State governments, especially the 3 Equatorian governors who openly called for federalism. More than half of the 50 members are the President’s appointees who will always vote for the government thus making mockery of democracy. The President further appointed new members to the South Sudan Legislative Assembly, where the SPLM already has an overwhelming majority. By imposing his tribesman, the former deputy for Speaker in the national Assembly in Khartom, to become the chief whip in the Parliament in Juba, where another tribesman from his home area is already the deputy Speaker, the President has weakened the power of the Equatorian Speaker, James Wanni Igga. This is the only senior position which ranks third in protocol after the President and Vice President. In the interest of fairness, power sharing, and equitable participation, the President ought not to have interfered with the powers of the Speaker. The chief whip and the two deputy Speakers will now form a league against Wanni Igga and they will report directly to the President. They will be a part of the kitchen cabinet and Wani Igga will remain the ceremonial leader of the Assembly. Wani Igga who was lamenting for exclusion of Equatorians has for over six years not been able to use his position as leverage in favor of Equatorians unlike Riek Machar who has consistently used his position to empower Nuers. Now that the position is worthless, will the comedian wake up from his slumber? It's my belief that when the new cabinet is formed, the same discrimination and regional power imbalances which started in the bush, will continue. Even if by some miraculous intervention Equatorians are allocated one third of cabinet positions, effective bargaining power has been shifted to the “kitchen cabinet”, and the other national institutions headed by Salva Kiir’s relatives and clansmen. Equatorian ministers in particular will be mere administrators who will even be bullied by more powerful Dinka Undersecretaries. The same scenario which Southern ministers faced in Khartoum will be repeated here. All will be subjected to the will of the now powerful President and they will dance to his tunes. Whoever dares to disagree with the King will face the wrath of both the King and the state apparatus. Capacity for Looting For 6 years the SPLM government fed the general public on lies and deception while indulging in insatiable wealth acquisition. They defended the impotence of the government, by claiming they had no capacity and were starting from the scratch. How comes they quickly acquired capacities for looting colossal sums of public funds, instead of capacities for institutional development and national development? Just before the Independence celebrations, the South Sudan Legislative Assembly had summoned three former ministers, 2 of Finance Arthur Akwein and Kuol Athian Mawien and the former minister of Legal Affairs Michael Makuei, to answer on loss 2 billion US dollars which disappeared in 2009 under their watch. This too was deception. If GoSS was serious about these investigations the culprits would have by now been behind bars. Nevertheless the unsuspecting public was happy that at least justice would finally be done. After a few weeks of bogus investigations, Deputy Speaker of the country’s parliament, Daniel Awet Akot as said….. “it has touched every unit: the executive, the national assembly, and even the legal advisors themselves. The 2$ billions dollars disappeared during the tenure of the former minister of Finance Kuol Athian Mawien, now abroad. Since then there have been concerns in the ministry of legal Affairs that was tasked with prosecuting the culprits has failed to make any headway….the figure is now adjusted to 1.3$ …. We are now a new nation. Let us start afresh….” So easy and so simple, no remorse, no accountability and the people are supposed to forgive and forget because they have been brought freedom. This is bush politics! In Britain MPS were jailed for fiddling expenses of just a few thousand pounds but in South Sudan supposedly the poorest country on earth, ministers and generals get away with billions. Are we to keep on believing that our President is a good guy who is only a passive victim of his corrupt ministers and generals? This is a multi-billion defrauding of a people the majority of who live on less than 2 dollars a day. Does the President know that there are some people who only drink porridge and cannot even afford a decent meal a day and others live on wild fruits and wild vegetables? And now over 300 are reported to have died of hunger in his own home State. What sense of morality does this man have if any? What sort of values is he trying to pass on to next generation of leaders? The recent Pagan Amum Scandal But perhaps we need to put things into perspective. A few days before independence celebrations after it was rumored that he might have fled the country, an article appeared on SouthSudanNation.com entitled: “Things fall apart: Pagan steals millions who else??? He was publicly accused by another top SPLM member, Dr. Lual Achuek Deng, a former minster of Oil in Khartoum that Pagan Amum, a GOSS minister and party secretary-general, has embezzled 3 million dollars. As if daring president Kiir himself, Dr. Lual is physically in Juba despite being accused of 'giving away' the entire July oil to the jellaba North. Lual has now revealed that Kiir himself gave him the go-ahead. Dr. Lual blamed the Kiir's government for the current fuel shortage in the south, due to corruption. Sorry, South Sudan under a prolonged Kiir's president will be forever corrupt. (SSN 07/04) Of course the President kept his calm even though the misappropriation was disclosed by a fellow minister, which means it must be true. But by Southern standard, three millions is the sort of thing poor millionaires steal. As many have echoed: others have taken more why disturb Mr. Pagan? These people are partners in crime so they know each other and they also know that the President protects them. If in doubt go to the Truth & Transparency dossier entitled SPLM: Reign of corruption and political stagnation Wed/8/Nov/2006, published by Sudan Today Issue No2. This astounding dossier gave an account of how millions of Southern share of the oil money disappeared within the first 12 months of Salva’s reign. It asserted that those around the President had not only killed all the important aspects of the CPA, but unrivalled in their guts and feats were shamelessly looting the country….. GoSS was visible not in the form of services such as clean drinking water, schools and hospitals but only in forms of land cruisers and airplanes flying thieves in and out of Juba. It agonized over the infamous Justin-Arthur syndicate which led to the loss of over 500 million dollars. …..The syndicate granted 100 million dollars to Martin Malwal Arop, a group member posturing as a contractor…..and was given the contract to supply 200 vehicles to GoSS. Ayii Duwang, the other market frontier of Arthur was the first to be awarded contracts by Arthur to supply furniture to GoSS offices. Bills were repeatedly inflated and Ayii eventually jumped from wretches to riches, ending up as a mini millionaire owning a hotel in Juba. Arthur allowed him to fleece 2 million dollars in contracts. …… There is no society in the whole world where a gang of only 6 people who can steal over $ 500 dollars broad day light and can escape punishment… He noted that when confronted in a meeting with Sudanese community in London (Nov 2007), President’s answer was: “there is no corruption…. he sits back watching his corrupt officials as if he were a chief in a club of thugs.” However, the writer would want to know that six years down the line, these people are no longer mini millionaires; they are truly mega millionaires and have spread their wings into big businesses which will in time be exposed. More Scandals: As if the Pagan Amum scandal and the grain scandals were not enough, we now have the most convincing evidence of all that the World Bank has asked for the President’s permission to publish a list of 13 senior government officials, known to have stolen a total of over 600million dollars. With such astonishing revelations, one would have expected the President to distance himself from these allegations and bring these criminals to account. The public has reacted by suggesting that Salva Kiir could be topping the list followed by his Vice, former first lady Mrs. Garang de Mabior, Nhial Deng, Deng Alor, Pagan Amum , Oyai Deng, and others see discussions in www.southsudannation.com. If 13 people have collectively stolen over 600 million dollars, then each of them has made away with at least 5o million dollars each. This does not include monies carried abroad in coffins or freezers, in the early days of the CPA when entire monthly budgets were delivered into offices of ministers in cash dollars. A few months ago, the summary Report by Norad hinted on widespread chaotic financial mismanagement in GoSS to the extent that ministries were operating bank accounts in foreign countries. In total disbelief we hear that President Salva Kiir is begging these people to bring these monies back, now that the country is independent. Is he suggesting that he authorized the embezzlement? More Nepotism and Corruption Although in the Rumbek conference most commanders including Salva Kiir himself, denounced the policy of handpicking relatives and installing them in public offices, Salva Kiir has now perfected the art of nepotism. Apparently both the Chief of Intelligence and the Chief of Police are the Presidents’ cousins. What’s more the minister of Oil and Energy is also the President’s nephew! The long list of ministers from the President’s home area include the ministers of Finance, Defense, Telecommunications, and Postal Services, Foreign Affairs, Public Service, Higher & General Education, Human Resource Management, and possibly others. The replacement of his uncle by yet another Chief Justice or more appropriately Chief Injustice, from his native Bahar el Ghazal testifies Salva’s determination to corrupt our vital institutions beyond redemption. For the next 4 years, Salva’s government will continue to lie, pay lip service, scaremonger and deceive the general public. He has already usurped powers of the Speaker; he is the head of the army, the chairman of the SPLM, President of the government and will control the judiciary through the Chief Justice and the ministry of Legal Affairs. The former Chief Justice removed a few days ago, swore his nephew as the first President of the South in front of world leaders and world media in Juba on 9th July 2011 as if it was just a family affairs. The President is not alone in this conspiracy. He is being supported by his power base: the kitchen cabinet, his extended family, his clansmen, the elite from Warrap State, and Bahar el Ghazal Dinka. The Bor Dinka are not innocent either, from time to time the two Dinka tribes collude to stop power from passing into hands of non-Dinka’s. Remaining true to his predecessors, Salva Kiir has instituted Dinka tribalism as a political ideology after Abel Alier and John Garang and during the interim period he has reinforced dinkanisation of all our institutions. Among themselves, the trio have misruled South Sudan for 8 years, 21 years and 6 ½ years respectively making a total of 35 years. By the end of the 4 years, Dinka’s would have ruled South Sudan for a total of 40 years. Their legacy will be the destruction of the fabrics of southern society, introduction of financial corruption, tribalism, nepotism, xenophobia, intolerance and immorality. These people and the systems they have created cannot be reformed. Lack of Concept of Right or Wrong One commentator said “criminals breed criminals”, another said, “these people have trained together” and their training ground was the 21 years under the tutorship of John Garang, which means they can never change. They may go to church religiously every Sunday, but have forgotten the basic tenets of Christian doctrines such as loving your neighbor as you love yourself. They consistently break aspects of the 10 Commandments and glorify theft, murder, deception, and grabbing people’s land, forgetting that in the Promised Land, land was divided as heritage among the 12 tribes, and these tribes were forbidden from taking each other’s land. In addition, Moses and Joshua were forbidden from direct rule, they were instructed by the Almighty to rule the tribes through the heads of their tribes. Even God saw the wisdom in federalism! When the children of Israel became big headed and refused to obey God, they were driven back into exile for the second time during the time of Prophet Jeremiah. While we like quoting the Bible and comparing ourselves with the children of Israel, let’s not choose and pick what suits us. If we do not have any sense of morality or have a twisted sense of right or wrong, then we will breed criminals. These men and women are genetically corrupt and are corrupting our rudimentary cities and children. They are rewriting our laws and have started to reward criminals while punishing the innocent. They have started to rewrite our history too. We must stop them before they rewrite the Holy Bible! The indoctrination and worshipping of martyrs in Juba is truly irritating and is reminiscent of colonialism which suffocates and further alienates people. Perhaps the President can start by taking off his sickening hat and implement the more positive side of John Garang’s vision like “taking towns to the villages” and most importantly taking the capital city to Ramciel. Ms Joana Adams , Juba, South Sudan, August 19, 2011 Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent those of the website. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
