Greater Equatoria Therapy Secession
By Steve Paterno
March 3, 2007 — The long years of oppressions against the people of the South Sudan have really taken toll on the people of South Sudan . Nowadays, the effects of those oppressions are being addressed through therapy sessions in the name of conferences and other avenues. The three states of Greater Equatoria (whatever that is greater about them) have just convened their therapeutic session to address their depressed state of affairs, chief among the issues are development and security.
The participations for the therapy session included the governors of the three Equatoria states, plus their states commissioners, and other representatives from the Government of South Sudan and non-governmental organizations. The session is held in Torit, a town that was once known for its historical revolutionary values. Whether the town still holds a historical value is another question and whether the choice for the venue of the session is due to the historical significant of the town, no one really knows. But what is certain is anything with a significant value is a plus for a therapy session and one will hope that was the case here so as to help with the healing process of that therapy session.
The therapy session is duped as “Greater Equatoria Conference.” In fact, the choice for the title of this session is suitable given the mental state of the participants and the image that it will project even though the fact is that the whole affair is a therapeutic affair.
To understand this, one need to differentiate between a conference and a therapy session. Matters of facts, the two are parallel to each other. Analogically, it can be put such that conference is to resolution as therapy is to healing. In other words, the conference addresses issues through resolutions that can be acted upon while therapy addresses issues through healing.
In the case of Greater Equatoria Conference, there was no conference, therefore, no resolution as a result of it. It was a pure therapy session. All the bunch of the people who participated in the session was there for the purpose of releasing their depressed state of minds.
Just to keep up hope, the participants in the session still maintain the protocol. It was Dr. Riak Machar who was honored with the protocol being the vice president of the South Sudan government making him the highest government official among the participants. Machar fired his emotion by surprising the participants that it is the states and counties to be blamed for lack of roads. That the states and counties should start the constructions of the intrastate roads, but the question is, start from where? And he stressed that these constructions of intrastate roads can be financed through revenues generated by the states and counties governments. Well, a psychiatrist will immediately conclude that it will take a lot of therapeutic sessions like this one for Riak Machar to come into a normal state of mind.
First of all, the government of South Sudan where Riak Machar is the second in command has never succeeded in establishing any revenue generated system of its own. So, Riak Machar should be ashamed of himself to pass on those responsibilities to others. Establishing a revenue generate system is a distant dream for the government of South Sudan that is to yet be realized if the government of South Sudan is pursuing it at all. The only source of revenue that is known to the government of South Sudan is the oil revenue that it is depended on from the National Congress Party of Khartoum government. Sadly enough, the government of South Sudan does not know how much that revenue is as the National Congress Party is the one deciding on the amount on the annual basis. This complicates the matters even more as the government of South Sudan cannot project on its budget since it is possible that it can fluctuates, even drastically at times.
Second, some of the counties don’t have modern trading markets that exchange goods and services in monetary values so as to institute tax revenues. Those counties are involved in a barter system where money is not involved in the exchange of goods and services. How will they then manage to generate revenues to jumpstart the construction of the intrastate roads? Actually the last time the government of South Sudan tried to collect taxes, the taxes never reach Juba leave alone the states and counties. The public were told through a presidential decree that those taxes were stolen by the government of South Sudan officials who manage the taxes.
Perhaps the government of South Sudan should demonstrate by example. Those tent hotels in Juba costing hundred of dollars per night must be taxed. A twenty five percent government tax, a ten percent state tax, a five percent city tax, and yeah, a two point five percent revolutionary tax for those who died and are continue to die liberating the country. Those cars flooding the streets of Juba must generate revenue to the Central Equatorial state through registrations. The owners and drivers of those cars must be fined heavily for traffic violations so as the fines generate revenue to the states and those revenues can be used to fix roads. And yes, the top government officials must disclose their funds and assets so that they pay taxes to the government of South Sudan , the states, the cities, and make generous contributions to the revolutionary fund.
Third, the way several levels of governments of Sudan are structured; it puts the bulk of responsibilities of constructions of Roads to the central government of Khartoum and to the government of South Sudan . Those two levels of governments have full-fledged ministries with million of dollars in budget and mandates to construct roads, especially in South Sudan to make unity attractive. It is all about making unity attractive, right! Omer el-Beshir, the president of Khartoum government and Salva Kiir, the president of the government of South Sudan on many occasions in public pledged to construct roads in South Sudan to expedite infrastructural development and make unity attractive. Beshir even dreams of constructing a railroad all the way from the port of Mombassa in Kenya to Juba in South Sudan . Given that trailer trucks which are couple yards long are the closest the South Sudan experience a train, a railroad will really be a dream come true for the people of South Sudan .
So, if that is the case why not utilized the two ministries with million of dollars in budget and mandates to construct roads to do the construction work rather than shifting those responsibilities to those who cannot be able to afford to do the job? After all, the states and counties governments cannot construct intrastate roads if the interstate roads are none existences. The first responsibility lies on top and then it trickles down, and that is how the system is designed. Or else the government of South Sudan prefers that the budget allocated for construction of roads is rather be embezzled in that ring of corruption that is so rampant in South Sudan . And yes, the people of South Southern don’t always trust Beshir on his promises and dreams, but at one point he was right when he promised and dreamed of unleashing his jihadists army against the people of South Sudan, and why can’t he be right this time too by unleashing the construction of the dreamed railroad in the South Sudan, just for the sake of making unity attractive? He needs a little agitation on that.
Anyway, as it is evident, most South Sudanese really need long therapy sessions. One of such individuals who demonstrate more needs to participate in therapeutic sessions like the Greater Equatoria Conference is Major General Peter Bol Koang. In fuming his anger on the security situation in relation to the brutal Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the Major General blames some tribes along the borders whom he accused of harboring and protecting the LRA. Yeah, this is the Major General talking under prognosis, but first, for those with clear and stable minds, there are no other tribes in the borders who are harboring and protecting the LRA. Instead it is the government of South Sudan which is harboring, feeding, transporting, lodging, and protecting the LRA. Riak Machar should have saved his lieutenant, the Major General Peter Koang from undergoing a prognosis on this issue as it is a no-brainer. In his own admission, Riak Machar acknowledged that the LRA refused the food that he, Riak Machar provided them because the LRA prefers to loot food of the citizens of South Sudan .
Second, the LRA is a brutal and terrorizing group that shot, kill, mutilate, kidnap, loot, burn, or destroy almost anything that they come across. This makes it highly impossible for them to have contacts with the civilians. The only human contact that the LRA has is non other than Riak Machar and his entourage. Now, the entire world is wondering how come the LRA never kidnapped him. Well, probably next time. The fact is anyone who comes in contact with the LRA will be lucky to be alive because by then, the person will be shot, mutilated, or kidnapped. So, if at all there are people at the borders who are harboring and protecting the LRA, they must be officials from the government of South Sudan like Riak Machar.
If the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) is not able to deal with the LRA, then they better just admit it so that other options must be explored. Those excuses just don’t cut it. But for SPLA to blame its ineffectiveness of dealing with the LRA on some other tribes in the borders, then it makes for strong case that the SPLA needs a complete overhauling that will include firing most of its top leaders or generals as they called them. This weakness of SPLA actually provide more reasons and justifications for people like Clement Wani Konga to retain his militia forces because it will be those militia who will in the end of the day be able to confront a foreign security threat like the LRA or the Ugandan People Defense Force (UPDF) when the SPLA is not able. The Eastern and Western Equatoria governments must also appeal for their citizens for vigilantism to confront such foreign security threats as it is evident that they cannot anymore count on the SPLA, a military organization that was once known for its bravery but now is characterized by incompetence and corruption.
But all in all, Riak Machar, Peter Koang, and most of the Southerners who are in a dare need of therapy, should involve in more therapeutic secessions like the Greater Equatoria Conference with the hope that they will one day come to normal sense of being. It has been a long war and oppressions, and it is understandable. That commissioner who witnessed boxes of money intended for public service disappeared needed to air his frustrations in a therapy session like this so as to get some healing in the process. This is also the same to the other officials, especially the governors who scream foul even though they have the authority to correct things but instead chose to complain. These people, all of them, they are sick and are in a dare need of healing and a session like the Greater Equatoria Conference, which can provide them with healing. It is not only normal, but actually recommended that the people in depressed state of minds must undergo therapy by talking about their problems head on, and that is what is happening among the South Sudanese people in and outside Sudan. Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan is an acclaimed practitioner of such sessions. If one hears him talks, one can mistake him for not being a leader because he complains about things that he has ability and authority to do, but rather than doing them he instead complains. Anyway, it will probably take several sessions for the healing to be completed, but by then who knows what will happen. Hope is the way out, and until then let the therapy continues.
* Steve Paterno is a Sudanese residing in the U.S.A., and he can be reached at [email protected]