25/08/2024
To President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Leader of a Dying Nation.
(Beny Koc cie thou)
By the most concern citizen
I write to you today, not out of respect, but out of a profound sense of sorrow and frustration. You, President Salva Kiir Mayardit, have become the leader of a family and a select few individuals who benefit from your position while the rest of the nation suffers. Your governance, if it can even be called that, caters only to those close to you, the likes of Bol Mel, like a greedy calf, drain the lifeblood of the nation from behind the scenes. These men, these âmenh weng höök thuĂ€t ciĂ«n,â are nothing more than parasites, feeding off the hard work and resources of a country that they do not deserve.
You, Mr. President, have become the president of a dying people, a leader who presides over the graves of those who once believed in the promise of a free and prosperous South Sudan. Your presidency, once a symbol of hope for a new nation, has become the harbinger of death, despair, and decay. You are not the president of a thriving country; you are the president of a nation in freefall, a country that has been brought to its knees by your incompetence and greed.
The people you serve, or rather, the people you have chosen to ignore, are suffering on an unimaginable scale. Starvation, disease, and violence have become the hallmarks of your tenure. Your administration is defined by its inability to provide even the most basic necessities to its citizens. Instead of focusing on the welfare of the people, you have chosen to surround yourself with sycophants and opportunists, individuals who have no regard for the well-being of the nation. These are the people who, under your watch, have bled the country dry, siphoning off its wealth and resources for their own gain while the masses starve.
Your government has become a private enterprise, where the wealth of the nation is hoarded by a few, leaving the rest of the population in abject poverty. The Ministry of Finance, under your leadership, has become a personal bank account for you and your inner circle. The nationâs resources, which should be used to build schools, hospitals, and infrastructure, are instead funneled into the pockets of those closest to you. This is not governance; this is theft on a grand scale, a betrayal of the trust that the people of South Sudan placed in you.
You have failed, Mr. President. You have failed as a leader, as a steward of the nationâs resources, and most importantly, as a protector of the people. Your government is a grotesque caricature of what a government should beâa system that serves the few at the expense of the many. The result of your leadership is a nation that is falling apart, a country that is being torn asunder by the very people who were supposed to lead it to greatness.
I cannot help but wonder, Mr. President, how you sleep at night as the leader of a country now synonymous with suffering and despair. I greet you not as a citizen filled with pride, but with the overwhelming sorrow that comes from witnessing the tragic decline of a once hopeful nation under your watch. If I were in your shoes, I would find no reason for laughter or joy; I would feel no pride in accepting the invitations to ceremonies and events. I would instead be burdened with the immense weight of the suffering that has plagued our nation. But it seems your dishonesty shields you from these feelings, allowing you and your loyalists in J1 to continue as though everything is fine. Shame on you, and shame on those who surround you, feeding your delusions.
I must say, President Salva Kiir, you have utterly failed this nation in every conceivable way. Your government is a grotesque display of tribalism, corruption, scandal, fraud, and at its worst, dictatorship. I find it incomprehensible that a nation so rich in resources has been reduced to such a pitiful state. The country's economy is in ruins, bled dry by your insatiable greed and your treatment of the nationâs resources as your personal property. The Ministry of Finance, which should serve the people, has become nothing more than your private bank accountâa piggy bank you use at will. Meanwhile, the ordinary citizens of South Sudan suffer under the weight of skyrocketing inflation, starvation, and a complete lack of medical care, while you and your family indulge in the nationâs wealth without a care in the world.
I am disgusted by the state of our Parliament, which has been reduced to nothing more than your personal bedchamber, where laws are made and broken at your whim. The Ministry of Justice has become your lavatory, a place where the rule of law is flushed away, and the constitution, the very foundation of our nation, has been reduced to your personal toilet paper. I find it shameful that you have transformed a nation blessed with abundant resources into one plagued by hunger, disease, and despair. Civil servants go for years without pay, while you and your inner circle revel in untold wealth, utterly detached from the harsh realities faced by the people you claim to lead.
I must repeat, Kiir Mayardit, you have failed this nation a hundred times over. It is time for you to step down because there is no possible way for you to rectify the damage you have done. You cannot and will not undo the harm that your incompetence and greed have inflicted upon South Sudan. I believe it is beyond your capacity to lead this nation toward a brighter future. Your continued hold on power only serves to prolong the suffering of the people and deepen the wounds that your leadership has inflicted.
I cannot help but compare your governmentâs dependency on foreign aid to that of an addict hooked on painkillers. Much like an addict who succumbs to pain and seeks temporary relief in drugs, your government seeks short-term solutions in foreign aid, ignoring the root causes of our problems. I find it disheartening that, despite the temporary relief that foreign aid provides, it does nothing to cure the underlying issues that plague our nation. Instead, it serves only to mask the symptoms while the disease of corruption and mismanagement continues to ravage our country. In the worst cases, just like a drug addict whose health deteriorates over time, the condition of our nation worsens as we become more reliant on aid without addressing the fundamental issues.
I am troubled by the fact that our nation seems to have developed a dangerous habit of relying on foreign aid, which does little to eradicate hunger and disease. Instead, we see only transient alleviation of suffering while the root causes remain unaddressed. I find it distressing that our national agenda has been reduced to meeting the bare minimum, with no real effort to create sustainable solutions to our problems. It is painful to see a nation so rich in resources reduced to a state where foreign aid is necessary just to survive.
I must express my deep disappointment in the way my fellow countrymen and women seem to find solace in the reception of foreign humanitarian aid. While they may celebrate the temporary relief it provides, I find no comfort in it. I see it as a reflection of our failure as a nation to manage our resources and address our problems. I cannot stand by and watch as our country becomes more and more dependent on aid, which brings dishonour and humiliation. I am deeply troubled by the fact that you and your supporters seem to view this aid as a cause for celebration, despite the shame it brings.
I am convinced that the continued reliance on foreign aid is not only a sign of weakness but also a barrier to real progress. These aids do not only come with strings attached; they also prevent us from developing our own solutions to our problems. I believe that raising young people in such an environment is akin to inflicting a wound that will never heal. It would be more bearable if our shortcomings were kept hidden from the outside world, but as long as you are the chief propagator of this shameful state of affairs, the world will continue to see us as a nation that cannot stand on its own.
I find it imperative to say that your leadership has led South Sudan into a state of disgrace. You have failed the people, and the time has come for you to step aside. Let someone with the competence, vision, and integrity take the reins and guide this nation out of the darkness and into a brighter future.
Share this my people. Let the message go out.