BY KOKA LO’LADO
I was in complete and utter shock, really upset and distressed, and started tearing and trembling in exasperation on Wednesday when I heard Cabinet Affairs Minister Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro tell the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC) Extraordinary Plenary that he and the current self-appointed leaders of South Sudan who are in cahoots are mandated by the Bible to lead the country. Later in the evening, while watching the River Nile flow by Juba with friends and after pondering over the statement, I suddenly burst into laughter to the surprise of those in my company who had earlier observed and mentioned that I was crestfallen, it finally dawned on me that the blathering Lomuro had come to his wit’s end and had to, as a last-ditch effort, use the Bible to justify their illicit stay in power. The status quo must up his pay for defending the indefensible albeit not paying government employees for months on end. See the absurdity?
The verbose minister should know that the essence of biblical leadership is built upon the foundation of our relationship with God and defines leadership as stewarding one’s abilities, and opportunities, and using them to influence and serve others from a place of selflessness and sacrifice. Leadership is not about position, privilege, or power. On this, the current crop of leadership has failed with flying colors. In Mathew 20:25-28, Jesus tells his disciples that leaders should not exercise authority over people. Instead, whoever wants to become great must lower himself to be a servant. Leaders realize that serving others is the only way to lead with a pure heart, free of pride and arrogance. So, in truth, what we have as leaders are swindlers. Ask them if they have prayed and asked God if they are worthy to lead and you will have a deafening silence for a response.
“We are assigned by the Bible to lead our people this time around, your time will come, so, give us the opportunity as the Bible says,” Lomuro emphatically declared to the South Sudanese stakeholders to the 2018 peace agreement in the RJMEC meeting after being ‘pelted’ with frank questions about the fail I re to implement the agreement that he regarded unsavory.
I should bring to Lomuro and the other disciples of President Kiir and the vice presidents, ministers, officials, generals, etc. up to speed and they should know that the Bible in Proverbs 29:2 says: “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.” Let them ask themselves, the cunning leaders of South Sudan who quote the Bible for their convenience and go to church for show, where they lie in this unambiguous verse.
Kiir’s de facto government, which is constitutionally illegal and run by decree, has reduced the people to such destitution and hopelessness that many South Sudanese only have the Bible and incessant prayers left to provide them hope. Then here comes a whisky-happy charlatan claiming that the members of his dubious mob in power were ordained by God to lead the very country they have failed and uses the Bible to justify the extension of their illegitimate tenure in office. It is insulting to the people and friends of South Sudan, to say the least. The so-called leaders are dancing on the graves of the very South Sudanese they deliberately and carelessly, due to a failure of leadership, killed. Now we truly know that we are dealing with demon-possessed leaders. We even have seen and have it on firm authority that some of our supposed leaders entertain witch doctors and sorcerers in their homes at night for very sinister purposes-among them, to retain power by all means available and necessary and wade off the spirits of those they killed or wronged to death.
Jeremiah 23:1-4 says: “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.”
As an anecdote, and for purposes of illustrating a character trait and behavioral character, let me add a screenshot of what Prof. Jok Madut Jok, a celebrated South Sudanese scholar of Anthropology and Public Affairs at Syracuse University wrote on his Facebook wall. As we say in journalism, a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, however, words aptly described and imprinted the truth.
Kiir, albeit being complicit, must get rid of some of these reprehensible disciples of his who have let down the people, pilfered peace implementation funds, circumvented the peace itself, and squandered the goodwill of the people and regional and international communities, if he is to regain trust, even a little, of the people of South Sudan and genuine friends of south Sudan. He must do this if he wants to demonstrate that he is genuinely going to use the two-year extension for the benefit of the country. On the positive flip side, he can actually use the unilaterally extended period to settle his accounts with the people, get into their good graces, by saying he will not run for office, ask for forgiveness, and promise and be seen to be honestly working to organize candid, free and fair polls. I am sure 99.8 percent of the population of South Sudan, excluding some of his family, cronies, and those that have been thriving in chaos and sucking the blood of the people, of course, will forgive him and even vote in a referendum to give him immunity from prosecution and give him handsome post service perks. Proverbs 29:12 unequivocally states: “If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.”
The good book often reminds us of false prophets and now we know who ours are. In the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 7:15-20), Jesus warns of his followers of false prophets: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit, you will recognize them.” In our case, we have now seen them and they are naked.
“When we speak to you, don’t look at us from the point of view as people who are just for themselves or corrupt,” Lomuro told the RJMEC Extraordinary Plenary on Wednesday.
I was bemused that he could make such a statement to such a gathering and it finally dawned on me that these guys are not one bit contrite about the morass they consciously created. Interestingly, as the idiom goes, the devil is in the details, and the good old minister mentioned corruption. Many of the leaders have failed to shake off the monkeys of corruption firmly strapped to their backs. It is now a permanent blemish?
“For our partners, we appreciate your positions and we do not condemn you for the decision,” Lomuro said. “I am not even surprised that you did not support the roadmap, you did not support the extension, that is fine but what we can be sure about is that we will not let South Sudan go to war again.”
Imagine the conceit in this statement addressed to the Western donors who feed and provide services to the larger South Sudanese population. If donors who pick the country’s bill can be treated so contemptuously, imagine how South Sudanese leaders think of and treat their already downtrodden citizens. Let me remind the minister who ‘likes’ the bible to do what it says in Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” A day of reckoning is surely coming when there will be no honor among our thieves and they will reveal their inequities. Lomuro already started by selling out his boss whom he venerates when he told legislators that funds meant to implement the peace agreement were used for ‘special projects’ in the president’s office.
I am positive, I can guarantee, that the South Sudanese’s now extreme loathing for their self-appointed, and now vilified leaders, will turn to ‘love’ if they unilaterally announce, like they did the extension of their tenure of office, that they are quitting as a collective. This however seems to be a pipe dream seeing they have resolved to remain on seat at all costs. Perhaps they live in fear of citizens realizing the gross magnitude of the financial and other crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. they committed against the people and country? The specter of accountability makes them cringe! To be compared to anything in the Bible, they would qualify as only charlatans and demons.
This lot might not have a conscience but two leaders come to mind, one who had the honor to speak truth to power and another who resigned, after the independence of South Sudan. In April 2013, Elias Nyamlell Wako, who had served in various cabinet portfolios and was the incumbent deputy foreign minister, had it, became enraged and decisively said in a cabinet meeting that the government of Salva Kiir was a “system that is rotten to the core and corrupt from top to bottom.” Might the jolly old academic have had wasps for breakfast that day? Anyway, he did not last long, and I am sure he knew and saw what was coming and was summarily sacked by Kiir, who is known to be vindictive, within a month. Kiir, known for being vindictive, had shortly after what he considered Nyamlell’s ‘senseless outburst’ said he would no longer tolerate criticism by members of his cabinet. Suffice it to say, the amiable but firm Nyamlell left an indelible image of a standup man with balls in the eye of my mind. Enter Dr. Lam Akol, who was then serving as South Sudan’s Agriculture and Food Security Minister, he resigned from his position in late July or early August 2016, I can’t recall the exact date. At the time, Kiir’s and Dr. Riek Machar’s forces clashed yet they were supposed to be peace partners, Dr. Akol said there was no more peace agreement to implement and threw in the towel. These two are some of the few examples of leaders who have stood up. Ah! I forget the youthful national MP who resigned with a bang and flare just late last month. Mabior Riiny Lual quit his seat in parliament and as a commissioner in the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) and wrote a damning resignation letter addressed to the South Sudan Patriotic Movement (SSPM) Chairperson, Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi Akol. “In my opinion, our daily thinking should be preoccupied with how we can save our people from poverty. But, since we are doing nothing to help our people, I see it fit to resign. I am resigning because serving in this government has become a mockery and a scam,” he stated. “My resignation should also tell others that, I am an independent thinker and I can quit when I believe what I am doing is against my belief and conscience.” Honorable indeed for a young chap in a place where elders are immovable and aspire to die in office. He then put a thick and delicious icing on the cake, at least for me, and wrote on his social media handle: “The best gift President Salva Kiir can offer South Sudanese this year is just for him to resign,” he said. “The man is taking the country down with him.” He then added as a kicker: “People are tired, scared and suffering. The best solution as he (Kiir) had alluded to is for him to go. Patriotism is when you tell the nation that you have tried your best and that it is the turn of a new leader to take over and steer the nation in the right direction. This is what Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania did.”
There have not been many resignations by political leaders since the independence of South Sudan but I do know of many political types and army generals who have taken their leg off the political accelerator, watch from a fairly safe distance, and quietly whisper about the rot and ills in the political administration of the country with family and trusted friends.
Lomuro must be so out of touch with the realities and the suffering in South Sudan that the leaders themselves created that they think the people are morons. Being condescending, he also felt the people in the RJMEC Extraordinary Plenary were lummoxes and equally gullible and he invoked the ‘right’ of the misleaders to rule South Sudan as a divine right ordained by the Bible. How callous! He conveniently forgot that the ancestors of some of the people in that room embraced and started practicing Christianity and other associated religions eons before biblical religions came to Africa, let alone South Sudan. I wish he had invoked one of the many dark gods some of them worship and pay allegiance to instead. This self-important man seems to have lost the plot and run out of options. Well, it is often difficult to defend falsehoods in perpetuity and it wears down the soul.
Matthew 23:1-39 says: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,…
The lightning speed with which the extension of the government’s stay was fast-tracked from the point of unanimous approval by the presidency, through passing by the cabinet, RJMEC, and on to parliament on Friday for final endorsement and incorporation into the interim constitution, is truly amazing and baffling. One wonders why the peace agreement was not implemented with such zeal and sense of urgency.
I, and the other anguished South Sudanese, hope and pray the Presidency will use the next two years they gave themselves to expeditiously implement the now limping 2018 revitalized peace agreement to its logical conclusion. We are watching with cautious and reserved optimism and hoping for the best while expecting the worst because our inept leaders have become hardened and bellicose and hard at hearing about the ills they have superintended over, and the now perpetual agony of the citizens.
According to 1 Timothy 3:1-5:, the saying is trustworthy: “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his household, how will he care for God’s church?”
Let the people of South Sudan be the judges!
The author, Koka Lo’Lado, is a journalist and can be reached via kokalolado@gmail.com
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the author’s responsibility, not Radio Tamazuj’s.