Opinion: South Sudan - Mountains To Climb To Liberate The Land

Prices of essential items in South Sudan 2024 (Image: Social Media)

By: Ogeryath Oger

The harshest experience is injustice, and the darkest battle is “the battle staged against the truth”. But there is hope in every stage of life that the forces of darkness shall one day be defeated by the just. As said by the late Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe, “victory is imminent as long as the fight that is staged is built on truth and supported by the people no matter how long the fight takes”.

“Mountains to climb” represent the problems and forces of the darkness that keep tarnishing progress in South Sudan for years. These challenges are not eternal neither are they natural but human imposed with an intention of keeping the majority of the citizens confront one another, swim in poverty and oppression. No matter how long the night is, the dawn will come and no matter how long we live, we shall one day be lowered into graves. The source of the challenges that we face today is our own politicians, who have decided to surround themselves with the country’s wealth, leaving their own citizens to lament day and night while they feast on the sweats of the innocent poor citizens.

The political, economic and social challenges that the people of South Sudan face today are harsh, cruel and beyond human ability to contain. Many wonder nowadays whether they are humans, because the challenges are beyond comprehension. Many South Sudanese today, are refugees with terrible life conditions which include inability to access clean water, electricity, safe shelter, health services and education. Most of these refugees are surviving on the handouts handed over to them by the United Nations agencies in presence of massive wealth in South Sudan being shared by the so-called political elites who have enslaved their own citizens inside the country into the same terrible conditions of life as the refugees.

The rampant arrests, tribalism and land grabbing crisis that the country faces today have their roots deeply planted in the offices of the political elites. The arrests are unlawful and unacceptable by the human law, but those who stand for the truth aren’t needed and therefore. The National Security (NS) that is charged with the responsibility of guarding the Citizens, has turned into a monster machine performing imprisonment tasks and subjecting people in South Sudan to severe inhuman punishments because of speaking the truth on important issues that are terribly affecting the citizens. Tribalism that we face in South Sudan as well, didn’t emerge from the traditional societies in South Sudan but created in Juba by inhuman politicians who don’t have sympathy for well-being of the South Sudan communities. They created tribalism in order to be able to maintain their political seats and eliminate the rise of unity and progress, which is a danger to them.

Land grabbing is beyond control as well in the country nowadays, this has left many people with terrible feelings for having lost their land to fellow citizens who are backed by corrupt politicians. The country has become hell to the citizens themselves and life is horrible. The government isn’t active and incapable of tackling these challenges in order to put the country into a safe zone.

In comparison with all the East African countries, South Sudan is one of the richest but at the same time, one of the poorest. This is not because the citizens have no ideas on how to run the country affairs, but because the country is run by incompetent leaders, leaders who prefer satisfying their own thirst for wealth and the resources of the country. 

Why should we seek good education, better health services and security from our own neighbours, yet we have a country that can simply provide us with everything we seek from outside? Why should we depend on the imports from other East African countries, yet we have the ability to grow our own food and supply the neighbouring states? These questions, can be answered but only when we get leaders who are competent, corruption free and capable of sacrificing for South Sudanese’ well-being instead of their own interests.