Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
By Zechariah Manyok Biar
January 29, 2010 — In my section of Dinka, there is a belief that one should not be thanked openly if he or she is still alive. I do not buy this belief now. I now believe that it is important to thank people in the same way we criticize them when they are still alive so that they know what they are doing well and what they are not doing well. I think many people are inspired by good work of others. So we need to point out positive parts of people’s lives so that others can learn from them. This pointing out of positive parts of one’s life must be done with politicians, too.
The Government of National Unity (GoNU) and the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) are full of competent leaders, but we often do not know good leaders because we rarely hear about them since what makes news is bad news. The examples of effective leaders in South Sudan include the Minister of Internal Affairs Major General Gier Chuang Aluong and the Minister of Transport and Roads, Mr. Anthony Lino Makana. Gier and Anthony are drops in the ocean of effective leaders we have in South Sudan. I use them as examples because what they are doing is visible to everybody who is not “good-blind” in South Sudan.
The other leader who is very effective but less publicized is the Minister of State for Finance in the GoNU Dr. Lual Achuek Lual Deng. Dr. Deng is less publicized because he keeps low profile in everything he does. It is not only today that Dr. Deng has done extraordinary well for the people of South Sudan; he did a lot of good things during the North-South war. This article will show how effective Dr. Deng is.
Dr. Deng gave up his luxurious position in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the 1990s and committed himself to serving the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) even when salaries were non-existence. Dr. Deng believed that there was a need for the building SPLM’s human resource to rule when the liberation became a reality.
In 1997, Dr. Deng came up with the idea of distant learning for SPLA commanders, whom he believed would become future government leaders in Sudan after the liberation war was over. Not only did Dr. Deng come up with the idea of distant learning, he made friendship with universities like the University of London in England, the Iowa State University in the United Sates, the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, among other universities around the world, to provide SPLA commanders with distant learning education.
When the then SPLM/A leader Dr. John Garang de Mabior, a Ph.D. holder from Iowa State University, approved Dr. Deng’s idea and selected SPLA commanders for distant learning, some commanders within the SPLA approached Dr. Garang and told him that Dr. Deng was trying to destroy SPLA by sending SPLA commanders to school. Both Dr. Garang and Dr. Deng ignored those concerns and pushed ahead with the building of human resource in SPLM/A because they knew it was a good thing to do.
Even though not every commander who was sent to school for distant learning could make it, given the educational gap they had gone through because of the war, few commanders who made it through their university education are now very effective leaders in Sudan and in South Sudan. The examples of these effective leaders who made it include Lt. General Majak Agoot Atem, now a Ph.D. holder and Deputy Director for National Security in the GoNU; Lt. General James Hoth Mai, a Master’s Degree holder and SPLA Chief of Staff; Lt. General Bior Ajang Duot, Under Secretary of GoSS’ Ministry of SPLA Affairs; Lt. General Pieng Deng Kuol, a Master’s Degree holder and SPLA administrator; Major General Gier Chuang Aluong, a Master’s Degree holder and the Minister of Internal Affairs in the GoSS; among other leaders.
Dr. Deng did not stop there. He thought that an institute of learning would speed up the goal of building human resource in South Sudan. So he established the Institute of Development, known as IDEAS, in 1999 in South Sudan. He also founded the Technical Committee of Intellectuals (TCI) to help in the process of every strategic planning that SPLM/A would make. Dr. Deng sponsored a number of boys and girls for university studies. Some of the people Dr. Deng sponsored are now working in different ministries in South Sudan.
Immediately after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Dr. Deng put Dr. Garang’s philosophy of taking towns to people into action by buying TV sets and distributing them to 12 centers in Greater Bor area to enlighten people in the rural areas about the modern world. Dr. Deng also took Telecom to Twic East County, helping old men and old women deep in the village buy phones and dial in their huts the numbers of their sons and daughters around the world instead of travelling to Uganda and Kenya to communicate with their children outside Sudan.
Dr. Deng then convinced himself that the only way to change people from the current way of living to a new way of living is to show them how better the new way of living is, compared to their current way of living. To achieve this goal, Dr. Deng bought some tractors and introduced agricultural activities in Twic East County. Communities in Twic East got involved in agriculture-for-market activities. Recently, some communities succeeded in their harvest, others are yet to succeed. But the success of few communities would be the motivation of those who have not succeeded. Now Duk County is gearing up to do what Twic East is doing. Agriculture will soon become a great investment in Greater Bor and beyond.
When the Second Vice President of GoNU Ali Osman Taha heard about the developmental activities that Dr. Deng was doing in Twic East County, he called him to his office and their discussions resulted in the funding of what is now known as Peace Village in the honor of South Sudanese influential leaders. The Peace Village would take town to people in the real sense of the word. As part of bringing town to people, Dr. Deng is building modern headquarters of Jonglei State Governor in Bor town.
During the tribal crisis that almost made Jonglei a failed state in 2009, Dr. Deng decided that it would be good if Gadiang was built into peace city to be second to Bor in Jonglei State, because Gadiang is in the center of Jonglei State. Dr. Deng got support from influential leaders in Jonglei State including Governor Kuol Manyang Juuk, Philip Thon Leek, Dr. Riek Gai Kok, Gen. Gier Chuang, Dr. Majak Agoot, to mention but a few. Now 200 soldiers are in Gadiang area and the construction of roads from different areas of Jonglei to Gadiang is underway. Seventy-seven tractors are on their way to Gadiang to speed up road and agricultural activities. Peace and reconciliation among different tribes in Jonglei State will be done in April this year, in which three hundred delegates will be accommodated in the buildings constructed in Gadiang.
To make the work easy in the area, Dr. Deng is building the Port of Dhiam Dhiam so that Jonglei State can receive its supplies by Nile River. To make communication easy, telephone towers will soon be put up in Gadiang. Water will also be available. Three hand-pumps are already functioning to provide clean water in the area.
About 50,000 acres of land are ready for those who would like to invest in agriculture in Gadiang.
As part of development in rural areas of Jonglei, Dr. Deng, who is a qualified Economist, is now establishing Jonglei Development Bank to provide loans for investment in Agriculture, Real Estate, and small businesses. He is also establishing Dr. Garang’s Memorial Think-tank to help the government of South Sudan make informed decisions.
I can go on and on about the achievements of Dr. Deng. The message I am trying to communicate to our leaders in both North and South Sudan here is that we the citizens of Sudan in general and South Sudan in particular would like our leaders to tell us what they will do when elected in the upcoming elections. We are not interested in your expertise in merely tearing of one another down; we are interested in how you plan to take town to people in your constituencies all over Sudan. Dr. Deng and other effective leaders in Sudan are good examples of what we want our leaders in every state to do. Mere words of how great one is no longer convince us because we have been hearing them since 1983. What convince us now are actions and clear plans for actions.
Zechariah Manyok Biar is a graduate student at Abilene Christian University, Texas, USA. He just graduated with a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and he is still pursuing a Master of Science in Social Work, specializing in Administration and Planning. He can be contacted at [email protected]
Gatwech
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
Zechariah Manyok Biar,
Meanwhile you have the right to appreciate the work done by your clanmate, Dr. Laul Deng, to the contrary, what I hear about the man is totally opposite. People talk of him as a first class tribalist and actually the implementer of late John Garang’s discriminatory policy when it came to the project you have talked about.
Yes, he did that good job to sneak commanders out of their fields and put them in location where they would access distance education. That was a good project. But why did he have to educate mostly Bor army officers and very few from other Dinka clans, let alone other tribes among sixty tribes in South Sudan?
Was the project of that movement (SPLM) meant only for Bor Dinka to benefit from? Was it a plan to relieve Bor Dinka commanders from war and prepare them to take over the army administration once war was over? This is the talk of many people of know Dr. Lual Deng very well.
And here as I quote it from yourself directly, the below paragraph in your article has confirmed the talk of the people that the man, Dr. Lual Deng, is a tribalist and weak nationalistically and that is why he does nothing in his current position as the GONU’s state minister of Finance and National Economy.
Look below as I quote from you, why would he divert such national programme to Greater Bor area and Twic East County in particular?
“Immediately after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Dr. Deng put Dr. Garang’s philosophy of taking towns to people into action by buying TV sets and distributing them to 12 centers in Greater Bor area to enlighten people in the rural areas about the modern world. Dr. Deng also took Telecom to Twic East County, helping old men and old women deep in the village buy phones and dial in their huts the numbers of their sons and daughters around the world instead of travelling to Uganda and Kenya to communicate with their children outside Sudan.”
kuminyandi
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
How effective is distance learing? Is somebody who got his/her Bachelors, Masters, and PhD degrees through Distance Education can “really” be considered educated? Are those degrees really worthy the quality education they claimed? Generally speaking, Distance Education degrees are considered Mills degrees, meaning anybody can HAVE them regardless of effective academic background. In other words, I can obtain one for Marley “my dog”. Can you imagine a dog with a PhD!
Time1
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
Zechariah Manyok Biar
This is an excellent and inspiring article about Dr Lual, lets hope his development campaign is widespread throught Jonglie and will help bring peace and development to the whole region.
You are right about citizens knowing about the policies of those who want to be elected to represent them, leaders have to explain tot he citizens what their policies will be, what change they will bring to the life of the people, and how they will bring or achieve this policies. Only leaders who have a plan good to help bring peace and development should then be elected.
James Okuk Solomon
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
It is very good to hear from brother Zechariah Manyok that Dr. Lual Deng has done extraordinary projects in the South for the benefit of a particular Bor section of Dinka in Jonglei state even to the extent of naming intellectuals of South Sudan “Dr. John Garang Think Tank” and naming a Bank, Bor Commercial Bank. Why Bor, Bor, Bor………….?
However, as good news as what Dr. Lual Deng has done and is about to do, it is also bad news in a sense that brother Manyok has confirmed the real tribalism and even clanism many Southerners have been worriedly complaining about. Every project mentioned by brother Manyok was only about Jonglei, and not only about any community in Jonglei but acertain Dinka section even within the larger Bor Dinka Community itself. What a shame!!!!
It is said if you don’t see yourself in a mirror then that mirror has no value of being a mirror reflecting your face, whether beautiful or ugly. What Dr. Lual Deng and other Bor gentlement mentioned by brother Manyok in his article have been doing and are planning to do selectively and tribalistically or rather clanistically in Jonglei or section of Jonglei state does not reflect nor recognize existence of others in the South. This marginalizing tendency could be a good cause for protest by Murle, Anuak and even the section of Dinak of Luaj, Thoy, Othol, etc. where Mr. Gier Chuang and George Athor hails from, leave alone other communities and tribes in the South who are being marginalized and denied peace dividends like the community of brother Manyok.
Dear brother Manyok, if Dr. Lual Deng mirror you are selling on the net now is what you are happy to praise about South Sudan, then it is better for me to start agreeing with those sons of the Country like brother Gatwech, Thielieng, Kim Deng, etc, that you are good for nothing except triablism and particularly Bor-Dinka clanism. If I were you, I would have kept silent to sell such exclusive mirror of development in public that does not reflect the existence of others to benefits from peace dividends in the South. This is very sad!!!!!!!!
Gatwech
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
Manyok,
Your argument about Dr. Lual Deng sounds like a desperate but confused defense! Are you advertizing him as a local leader (achiever) for Twic East or Greater Bor constituency or as a national leader working for the greater South?
Now Dr. Lual Deng is a state minister in GONU, does he represent his Bor constituency or does he represent the whole South considering the position he holds now in Khartoum? Would a true nationalist be proud about an individual leader who decided to loot what belongs to the whole South and takes it to his own home village? What if the minister for roads constructs roads only in his home area? Would you be proud about his work?
Manyok, do you really understand well the difference between representative of a particular constituency among hundreds of constituencies (South) and some body holding a national position, taking the whole South as a greater constituency?
To me, Dr. Lual Deng’s position whether as chief of that distance education in the bush era and being minister in GONU are all national responsibilities. They are not for Bor only. And so for him to divert such national resources for the benefit of his clan, Bor-Dinka, is unnationalistic and should be condemned instead of praised!
And you, Mr. Zechariah Manyok Biar, don’t know well what you are arguing about Dr. Lual Deng. Dr. James Okuk and another brilliant guy Thieleling have nipped you in the bud! You are a lost tribalist trying to localize what should have been national projects. They are actually stolen projects and Dr. Lual Deng should have been charged of corruption.
As for your cheap desperacy to prove that he took many officers for distance education among many tribes, that is a lie too. The six people are just examples and not the whole list of officers. It is like showing as examples all the existing three green colors together with three red colors among some other 50 red colors. The other remaining 47 red colors are Bor-Dinka. So don’t deceive us with those few individuals examples from other tribes who participated in the distance learning project.
And stop writing irrelevant articles. I have been advising you about this over and over again. If you had wanted to write about your local politicians in Twic East, you would have stuck to that and treat the matter as local. But is Dr. Lual Deng a local leader or a national leader representing the world South at the national level?
Gosh, that Christian University must have gone through hell trying to tame Manyok. There is a saying that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks…
James Okuk Solomon
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
Oppositely; if brother Manyok has mentioned what Dr. Lual Deng and other Bor gentlemen have done and are palnning to do for the South in other constituencies far away from Bor-Dinka section in addition to what they have done in Twic east Constituency of Jonglei state, many people would have been discharged urgently from the tribal Hospital beds of South Sudan. We would have been rejoicing collectively as one people of South Sudan, alas!!!
The fact that brother Manyok forgot to mentioned Oyai Deng Ajak (who is even a brother-in-law of his Bor community) as one of the beneficiaries of the so-called Dr. Lual Deng’s good and examplary job, is a good clue of how Manyok mind is imprisoned in Bor tribalism and clanism.
Look at how brother Manyok tried to portray other SPLA officers who are not from Bor as failures and Bor ones as the only successful in the so-called Dr. Lual’s best project of distance learning.
Can Manyok tell us how many (stupid as he tries to justify Bor gentlemen dominance) Non-Bor SPLA officers failed to succeed in the distance learning so as to believe his allelluia songs for Dr. Lual Deng and Majak Agoot!!! Just I am curious to know how many Non-Bor out of Bor SPLA distance learners so that manyok allegation could be justifified.
Please brother Manyok, next time try to look nationalistic if you want keen and critical intellectuals of South Sudan to take you seriously. This is just a brotherly advice for you to freely take it or rejects it.
Aturjok
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
Although I am not from Dinka Bor, I do not see anything wrong with Manyok’s article on Dr. Lual. May be if others ministers from every corner of South Sudan do the same thing for their constituencies the development in the South Sudan can advance in faster. Rather, they chose to enrich themselves and their families. Dr. Lual recognized resources available to him and he chose to direct them to his home village. What is wrong with that?
Manyok,
Thank you for writing this article. May be this can be an inspiration to others in both GOSS and GONU.
Gatwech
Dr. Lual Deng: The less publicized effective minister
Brother Manyok,
You are just confirming the dilemma of your confused argument.
If you wrote about Dr. Lual Deng as a local Twic East representative, then your writing or praise doesn’t contain any exra measurement of Lual’s success because other constituencies representatives have done good and some even more than what Dr. Lual did to Twic East. You didn’t need to make noise about it as if Twic East is the only success story among the 79 other South Sudan counties.
And if you wrote about him as a national leader, well that would have made sense, but ONLY to some extent because there are other national leaders in South Sudan who have done well more than whatever Dr. Lual has contributed for the last five years.
But why would he (Dr. Lual) divert national resources (making unity attractive fund) to his home village and call him a success? Is Sudan unity to be made attractive only in Twic East? Dr. Lual has exercised a corrupt practice by favoring his clan’s area and should be charged of corruption?