David de Chan and Nuer wounded dignity
By Luke Kuth Dak
March 20, 2008 — I am very proud of my heritage and of course, of being a member of the Nuer community. Nothing unusual about that. As a matter of fact, it’s only natural to be intimately connected and associated with the people with whom you share things in common: language, norms customs, etc. Besides, the Nuer community- in general, was my biggest fan base and cheer-leader, when I became an anchorman in the Arabic service at Juba radio, and a national correspondent for then- al Ayaam Arabic daily newspaper, right off High School. Often times some high-ranking Nuer leaders- who did not know me in person, came by our office to inform me of how proud they really were of my unprecedented contribution. In addition, I was honored to serve as press secretary under four consecutive governors of Upper Nile who happened to be Nuer, namely: Daniel Koat Mathews; Col. Simon Manyang kech; Col. John Kong Choul, and Manasseh Magok Rundial. Consequently, this lengthy introduction would not have been at all necessary, had it not been for a few- and I repeat- a few critical e-mails I received from some of the brothers who were not particularly diplomatic in their criticism of me. However, that did not bother me a great deal, because that’s the nature of journalism. And if you are afraid to state your opinion clearly, openly and objectively as possible, then, I suggest that you must be in the wrong business, period.
Their problem was, I criticized my own brothers in the Nuer nation. In another word, I should have been my ” brother’s keeper, ” regardless of whether or not he committed a crime, or was on the wrong of a problem. I applaud those critics and they are rightly entitled to their opinion. But the fact of the matter’s that I feel no pride-at all, in what some of the self-proclaimed and so-called Nuer leaders who are diligently concerting affords to undermine the unity of the people of south Sudan. It’s indeed crooked and shameful, the manner in which some of those traitors are attempting to do using our tribe as a ” weapon of mass destruction, a source of getting rich quick, and a tool for job security.”
Certainly, it troubles me a great deal and it breaks my heart tremendously that the Islamic terrorist southern ” golden boys” continue to further their quest in dragging our beloved tribe deep into the mud with their cowardice, intrusive, preposterous and obscene behaviors that are against anything and everything the Nuer nation stands for and believes in.
By way of example, one of the members of the Islamic National Front’s southern ” golden boys ” club, the so-called Professor David de Chand-the name suggests he must be from the Republic of France other than Nuer- who hardly speaks a word of Arabic much less Nuer, and who- as we have mentioned in our pervious articles- has never had a stable job most of his adult life, all of a sudden had become someone to be reckoned with in the political landscape in the Islamic terrorist regime of tyrant and murderer Omar al- Basheer, a man who is credited for savagely and brutally murdering over two million people of southern Sudan and most recently the Darfurians citizens. out of a blue, de Chand had become the darling of the extremist terrorist regime’s media, that his press coverage surpasses that of any other southern Sudanese leader, even the number two most powerful man in Sudan, the Chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation movement ( SPLM ),the First Vice President of the Republic and President of the government of the South Sudan ( Goss) Lt.General Salva Kiir Mayardit, his Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, Foreign Minister Mr. Deng Alor, and Ustaz Pagan Amoun, the minister of Cabinet Affairs and SPLM Secretary General, all combined.
Ironically, some in the Nuer community are too optimistic still, and naive enough, to believe that Mr. David de Chand will one day come back to his consensus, regain self-control, and denounce his sinful past! My prediction is all but bad news. As they say in the military: ” Once a Marian, always a Marine.” The boot- licker always will be a boot-licker. It’s a chronicle desease that all man kind suffers from, and David’s just one of a bunch. Pluse, his booming business of selling South Sudan, unfortunately in the name of the Nuer people, is no where near stopping any time soon. The blood-money and the lavish life style that comes along with it, are simoly too good to be passed on easily and valunterly.As of right now,the ” lone party” Chairman, sits on a pile of millions of dollars given to him by the terrorist regime.
With that said, I was not really surprised, having known the predator from a very short distance, but nevertheless it sadden me greatly that one of our own could reach the rock bottom in low self-esteem and chooses to make a living in such a disgraceful way. Need more? Just this past Thursday Mr. Chand of all people blasted and darned (SPLM) accusing it of being behind ” The assassination ” of it’s leader Dr. John Garang de Mabior. ” A thorough investigating must be redone, to prove (SPLM) involvement, he said.” But the interesting thing in this “stupid” allegations is that Mr. de Chand was one of the few people who were delighted and celebrated the untimely death of Dr. Garang. Obviously, there no controversy David doesn’t like, otherwise why should it matters to him in particular, who killed Dr. Garang and how it was carried out? After all, isn’t the enemy of your enemy supposedly is your friend? ” The SPLM must stop the using the language of war, he, went on to say.” In contrast, he showered- as usual, anyway, the Khartoum terrorist regime with praises and glorification. “The Khartoum government, he added, has all the solutions to both Darfur and Abyie conflicts!” The question that came to mind is which government is he referring to? And who’s he kidding, anyway? But just in case he forgot, who started the war language, I will remind him. Didn’t his mentor tyrant al-Bashir traveled to wad- Maddani to mobilize the Mujahideen for yet another holly war? So why didn’t he do something about it if indeed he cares about peace in the country? Also Dr. Mustafa Osman, one of the strongmen of the government and the former Minister of Foreign Affaire, time and time again has uttered words such as: “We defeated them (SPLM) before and we will defeat them again this time around.” In numerous occasions, he expressed the readiness of his regime for a new jihad war in south Sudan and Darfur. Now, how many red flags are we waiting for from this traitor, David de Chand? I find it difficult to swallow.
Finally, I have got this to say to my people in the Nuer nation that for far too long we have tolerated and allowed these traitors to use you for their own personal interests, ruin your reputation not only in south Sudan but around the World. We simply can’t afford to ignore it anymore. The time to say to them enough is enough is NOW. We need to draw the line in the sand that from now on the golden boys of the like of Riek Gai Kok and David de Chand are only representing themselves and themselves alone. This must become true while there’s still an opportunity to repair our wounded dignity, trustworthiness and reputation in south Sudan and the World village at large.
Our values make us what we are and who we are. We are in this fight together.
Luke Kuth Dak, is a former anchorman at Juba Radio, and you can reach me at: [email protected].