?And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do? (Gen 11:6 KJV)
The various exchanges of various writings on websites which had become a tsunami in Collo area have reduced to some degree. But their implications are still in the minds and hearts of many people within the Collo community. It is unfortunate that many of Collo individuals and some groups had been influenced by motion to spend so much time and resources to expose our community nakedness. Unprepared ness has been a major culprit in as far as managing our internal problems are concern.
These recent communications do not reflect well for our Collo homeland; the contents of these writings were blurred by the sympathizers of both Dr. Lam Akol and Pagan Amum who have been the common figures in these discussions. However, both of them are our beloved sons of Collo who are prepared to listen to us.
Long standing disagreements must be settled if we are to protect our long term security. We must let reasoning override emotions to forge a peaceful and harmonious future. Thus to me, it is high time that we take stock, gather the facts of our own and re-strategize our future political move as a team. Most of the writings were praising and condemning our leaders in political positions in the current Sudan Government.
Fortunately enough, we have not heard from our brothers Dr. Lam Akol and Pagan Amum who were both mentioned severally in the various writings. It is not logical to put fire in a burning fire, but rather, we should work to putting out the fire! A lot of defamation and damages has been done by these writings. Some of us are not sure whether both of our brothers are really involved or not. But, the reality is that, these writings have happened. It is immaterial whether they are involved or not, but, all of us as the Collo community in general are held responsible for such things. Dr. Lam Akol and Pagan Amum are our Dear Sons and our Pillars at their current God ? given political positions. The writings indeed imply bad blood between them. Again, in reality, both of them share the same Language, Religion, Custom and indeed One King.
Apparently, their relentless effort to uplift the status of our Shilluk community and other ethnic communities in Sudan speaks for itself. We pray for their continued good health so that they can continue in their tireless efforts as they have physically shown before by uplifting us and making us a proud community that can walk with our heads held high.
The writings on the website are making the Collo lose their war for political supremacy in the whole of Southern Sudan and in the Sudan at large. To our Kingdom, political nemesis going by the past records and cannot make any major progress inside the Shilluk Kingdom. Constant rumors can also hinder the work or presence of NGOs within our four counties.
For our brothers who have been involved in those writings, on a more serious note, and at a personal level, I am kindly requesting you to change to positive writings so as to provide all of us with some advice which can contribute to some efforts in the interest of the Collo community. We need to work together and have a candid deliberation with a view to problem solving rather than fueling the fire. When problems are identified, it is usually better to bring them out and arrive at the most appropriate way forward than shifting blame. Blame culture demotivates and destroys a team. A lot of issues need to be tackled by credible church leaders and other key community leaders to at least to change the apparent dark future for the Collo.
In my opinion, I am proposing His Lordship, Bishop Vincent Mojwok Nyiker and Moderator Rev Ezekiel Kutjok Akulith to head the team of putting together our two brothers: Dr Lam Akol and Pagan Amum. Those two church leaders are spiritual leaders with very good standing within the community. It is my appeal that, our two brothers will be able to sit down with these two church Leaders in a time suitable for all. Other important personalities in this meditation process are the Paramount chiefs of Payams where our two brothers come from. This meeting will be a preliminary stage. If the mediation is finalized at that level, we as Collo will of course give praise to God, our two Paramount chiefs, our two brothers and our church Leaders. If it fails, (which we hope it may not) the mediation party will raise the issue to His Majesty the King, Reth Kwongo Dak Padiet where the final solution will be reached.
Collo is a nation, and in fact negative nation politics in our State will not take us any where, but destroy the vision and integrity of the Shilluk Kingdom. No nation will ever progress when there are no positive role models that the next generation can follow. Such politics are demeaning the actual mission and vision of the only kingdom in the state.
In another episode, we were there when an attempt of putting Dr. Adowk and Dr. Lam together was conducted in Nairobi on 18th June 2004 by our Honourable Paramount Chiefs: Edward Amum Okiech, Philip Twong Monytung and Augustino Obyenyi Alongmayker. On mutual understanding, some burning problems which led to the antagonism between the two Leaders were discussed. There was a good example of the two Leaders by having signed one document with their own hands and pens to remind them not to revive that hatred any longer. In the presence of our Paramount Chiefs, both Dr. Adwok Nyaba and Dr. Lam Akol accepted prayers and traditional ceremonial sprinkling of water as a sign of unity. It now appears that these animosities are being revived to the determent of the community. We should not condone this, but rather encourage peace and harmony to allow all of us to build our home land as a team.
I have put a lot of effort in bringing our two brothers together in this writing as part of sustainable development in which each Southern Sudanese is trying to attain at this peace time. In the light of that, let us as Collo in all walks of life pull up our socks, work as a team and prove ourselves to be credible Leaders in the face of the local community of the kingdom and other tribes within the State. We as Collo need to attract more people with credible politics that will make us more attractive to other groups to enable us participate more effectively in all the areas of the development arena of the present day Sudan.
Peace and harmony amongst other ethnic groups has shown gain for those communities as they are now competing for the limited resources for development work instead of fighting. This is what we should be doing as well in the Shilluk Kingdom. Without doing that, we will just appear as one nation in the area with no clear mission and purpose. Since we are the only group with a kingdom, let us all as Collo work as one people, a team, regardless of political differences and push our shared programme forward, and avoid threatening each other. We as Collo should concentrate on building our homeland and if the current peace holds, the Shilluk Kingdom should be a shinning light for the rest of Sudan!
As we are going for actual implementation at peace time, these unnecessary writings need to be discouraged and let us be devoted on positive and candid manner in away that does not hurt the feelings of anyone, but promotes the good will and image of Collo. Otherwise, it will look an apparent dark future of Collo.
With God?s richest blessings to all.
Nyikwec Pakwan is a Teacher
and Church Leader based in Shilluk
Kingdom. He can be
reached at:
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