As pertaining the pending peace process in sudan and also due to an absolute optimism of the people, there has been rumours and premonitions that Aweil district because of it vastness and geographical demarcation will be separation province/state with its own governor.
And therefore, the question is shoud this prospect of peace prevail, who will be this governor ofthe great Aweil province?, what are the initiatives and criteria that will be use to democratical elecet this very important figure to this vital postion? and lastly are we, people in diaspora equally important in determining the prosperous future of this community or is it only in the hand of the people at home? and if so how can we participate in this decision making.
More so because of this position, it has been alleged that some of the important ministers went to denounce their ministry for this position of the governor, is this a thirst for power or ardour for exploitation of the grassroots?, it is quite unpragmatic to forfeit higher position for the lower one unless you have hiden agenda.
Brothers and sisters, this time round we need leaders that will unite and bring unscalable development and prosperity to the great Aweil but not those who will fill their tummi and deplete our resources to their satisfication and it is our duty and obligation to choose a leader of our choice if we unmasked at all newpotism and other social evils that has been undermining our effort all a long.
thanks
Udele
We disagree to agree, I welcome all your opinions and challenges.
Although I could sense what Miss. Atong Wek had written to the peoples of Aweil to leave aside some other topics of discussion for the sake of trying to find the way out for the bad news of looming hunger in our homeland, I found your this question to be equally importance and therefore would like to answer it. Of course many peoples share your concerns. In fact since the promotion of Mading-Aweil from district to Province of Eastern Bhar El Gazal, which included Gogrial in 1982, the first 3 Commissioners were all drawn from Gograil, as if by combining Aweil and Gograil had meant luck for Gograil. It started in 1982 when the late Cdr. Kuol Amoum, from Awan area of Gograil was appointed the first Commissioner of EBG Province whose capital was Aweil. In March 1984-1985 another Man from Twic area of Gograil county called Henry Tong Chol, replaces Kuol Amoum as Commissioner of Aweil. An fainally, Col. James Yol Kuol 1985-1987 another Twic became the last commissioners of Aweil who donot hail from Aweil . Unfortunately when the turn came to the peoples of Aweil, the said Eastern Bhar El Gazal province, which comprises Aweil and Gogrial ceased to exist – rather it was call Nothern Bhar El Gazal province under Commissioner Sultan Pio Tem Kuac 1987 – 1989.
In 1989 after Coup in 30 June which brought Bashier and his NIF to power, Aweil had two provinces: Aweil, and Ariath provinces under Ustaz Luigi Lual Akot and Garang Ngor Gop. In 1993 Aweil had once again became one State (Region) under Bashier’s government. Ariath remains a provincial capital of Aweil North, and Wanyjok as provincial capital of Aweil East which included Paliet area of Aweil south. Aweil West and centre maintained Aweil town as their capital. In total the Aweil State had three province under NIF’s regime (equivalent of SPLM’s counties). In 1995 it was realized in Khartoum that combining Aweil East and Aweil South in one provincial capital of Wanyjok was out of all proportions – given the fact that Aweil East is already the largest single province in the whole of South, second only to Western Eqautoria. So, Paliet was made to become South Aweil province by NIF, in 1995 that brought Aweil to total of 4 provinces under the governor of Northern Bhar El Gazal, Aweil. The first governor of Aweil State was, Mr.Joseph Ajoung Mayol Kuel from Aweil South 1994 -1997 : Major Kawac Makuei Mayar from Aweil North1997 -2001: followed by Ustaz Kongder Dut Jok, from Aweil south 2001-2003: Mr.Garang Deng Aguer (former businessman, who hails from Aweil east 2003 until now.The SPLM/A adopted the same by making Aweil to have 4 counties (but no governor) until the NIF's paradigm was adopted by the recent peace agreement. Recently the county of Aweil centre was created with Aroyo as capital (just to follow the already Aweil Centre province esatblished by the NIF governemnt, who appointed Major of Wild life Conservation ( a former secondary school teacher Mr George Awad) a Jur from Aweil. In total, Aweil state is now comprises, Aweil North under commisioner Deng Thiep Akok, Aweil East under Cdr.Victor Akok Anei Magar (now forced out of his office), Aweil South under Cdr.John Angok Deng Dhieu, Aweil West under Mr.Wol Mawien Diing, and Aweil Centre ( not sure who he is). All of this counties shall be under the governor to be appointed by the GOSS on consultation with national Liberation Council until the genaral elections in 3 years time. The current NIF's governor of Aweil Mr.Garang Deng Aguer, will soon finds himself in the vacuum.
The criteria for choosing the governor of Aweil is that: (1)a contender must be a citizen of Aweil, form either of the above mentioned counties: (2) the contender must have already been elected as member of Parliament from his/her constituency in one of the above counties, before he put himself/herself for the governorship of Aweil State. No hand-picked or appointments in this post. This is what I can offer for now.
Thank for the topic you provided herein for discussion. I agreed with modalities for electing Aweil governor laid down by our uncle Ateny Wekdit. The candidate must identify himself/herself to Aweil citizens and they should have flat forms with them so that they can be evaluated by Aweil community. They should be willing persons who are ready to sacrify themselves to Aweil community. Candidates should show their competentness and credibility to the voters. Aweil community in this new era needs stronger leadership to supplant the old one. Yes leadership has misdirected our community for so long. We need leadership that care for the people of Mading Aweil and not the one that expoits our community for own political gain and satisfaction. Aweil has been grappling for strong and decent leadership but all went in vains, so this is the right time to elect a respected leadership in our community or else we fall in the same channel as in the past.
Thanks
Santino Ajith
-- Edited by santino Ajith at 11:11, 2005-02-07
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Nothing is possible without fair distribution of power and wealth.
I CAN SEE EVERYBODY WANTS THE POSITION OF THE GOVERNERSHIP. WHY IS IT THAT NOBODY FROM AWEIL HAS AMBITION TO RUN FOR SOUTH-PRESIDENCY?
OR DOES IT MEAN JOHN GARAGN WILL ALWAYS RUN FOR THEM FOR AWEIL PRESIDENTIAL AWEIL? OR DOES IT MEAN THERE ARE NO CAPABLE PEOPLE FROM AWEIL WHO COULD HANDLE SOUTH PRESIDENCY? IT IS A DISTURBING SCENARIO TO ME WHEN I DON'T SEE FROM AWEIL HAVE ANY AMBITION TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCY. I EXPECT PRESIDENTIAL CONSTESTERS RATHER THAN FIGHTING FOR ONE POSITION OF GOVERNERSHIP. THEY HAVE TO DO IT IF THEY WANT TO PROTECT THE SECURITY OF AWEIL PEOPLE. LACK OF THEIR PRESENCE IN VITALLY IMPORTANT DECISION MAKING HAS CAUSED MORE HARM. THEREFORE, THEY MUST GET INVOLVED NOW.
WHY NOT PRESIDENCY INSTEAD OF THE GOVERNESHIP?
I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHOEVER HAS AMBITION TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCY.
You have tremendously impressed and enlighted me with alot of informations that you have given in the reply of this article and that is why it is significantly important to have wise elders among young people.
I concurred with The conditions or the prerequesites you have mentioned and by others, these must be satisfy by the canadidate for the governorship.
Also I strongly agred to Garang Aher that, Aweil people should stop sycopancy,tail waging and boots licking.
Dear Garang Aher, Mareng Makuei, Kuot Kuot, and all,
First, thanks to all of you for the compliments each of you had conveyed for the explanation I have provided. However, it will be tantamount to terrible assumptions, if anyone is to provide a full answer to any of the questions you had asked, and seconded – given the complexity of the subject matter. Notwithstanding, it is not bad at all, if peoples were to ask questions. In fact the question of our politicians contesting to rule the south, is not any but a God’s given right. The first universally accepted criterion for the leadership is always a requirement of citizenship, which the peoples of Aweil had equally to those held by other members of communities in the South. But, there must be a central leadership of certain area to exist before contesting for such a top job in the land.
First, the contender must show his/her capability to his/her constituency as the right person (not just by erecting a fence-full of his kin and Keith), rather by doing a job that everyone approve of, in his/her society. We need to do a good job to know whether these criteria could be easily met. Late Benjamin Bol Akok, had once contested to become the Speaker of the Parliament in Juba, a constitutionally second top job in the south then on the wake of the vote of no-confidence against the then Speaker Mr. Lubare Rumba, but lost (albeit he was the Deputy Speaker. What went wrong then while Aweil was the only single district that had more than 14 MPs? The answer is, our MPs went to Juba as Sudan Africa National Union (SANU) and Southern Front (SF) parties members, they did not had Aweil in their minds. Bol Akok lost to Hillary Paul Logali, because of two votes only, both from Aweil’s MPs. Lawrence Lual and Philip Geng Nyuol both from Aweil south, and North respectively voted against Benjamin, in order to allow their SF’s member to win- Are we ready to rise above this pity politics this time? The answer to this may provide a clue.
The second is our obsessions about sectionalism, be it Malual, Paliet, Paluenpiny, Abeim and recently Lou. Some individuals, a high profile individuals, are obsesses about sections, instate of having one united Mading-Aweil. I do not want to risk going further than this, since explaining every glimpse of our negatives may compromise the pride of our peoples. So, I would like to conclude that, let us first contest on the regional level so as to be able to know who is capable to provide Aweil with central leadership. This would requires us to start from Payam, County, and then to State, if this would help. He/she, who will convince Mading-Aweil to vote for him/her as central leader, shall equally be our candidate who will then run for the leadership of the South. In the meantime, we need to do well in Aweil, before going to the next stage. Yes, there may be contenders from Aweil who might risks run for the presidency of the South regardless, should the SPLM/A allows democracy. But, in my opinion we have something to sort out first before that, and Aweil state provides the answer. Otherwise, with attitudes such as the one running in Aweil communities wherever they are nowadays, is very alarming, and may do more harm to us than what we had in the 1970s 1980s. We need our fruits ripen from the tree, than bringing them home green in order ripen artificially.
I would simply say we are genuinely gifted to be with you. I love the your intellectual dedication to educate us. However, I am always disturbed whenever I read your messages not that they are not important but because of such a failure on their side.
Furthermore, John Garang has scared Aweil capable politicians away. People like Lual Lual Akuei, Garang Rieny, Kawach Makuei and others have been labeled "Nyagats" by John Garang, and Aweil people, without analyzing the situation, believe that they are bad people and John Garang is the only person that can liberate them and fight for them. This is another disturbing situation. Why do Aweil people trust John Garang more than us? Does mean that John Garang will be everything for them, for instance, lawyer, judge, teacher, agricultural and business manager, professor at colleges and universities, engineers and economists? Will John Garang play all these important roles in our State if we allow him to label those who challenge him as "Nyagat."
John Garang forgot Aweil community in the time of 1988 starvation and two-decade-slavery. Given these scenarios, I don't understand why John Garang still has a popularity in Aweil. Is it because of intimidation or anything else?
I don't really understand why Aweil people still remain after John Garang when he treats our people as his objects and not subjects as he treats other people.
Mareng Makuei, you got it brother, we need to have our own governor in Awiel (Aweil) States. Yes Garang Aher our most educated elders have been beleaguered by Garang. I was distress to see some of Awiel folks are still shielding Garang supremacy. Lual Diing woul is better example for Awiel people. He use to worn same shoes with Garang and trust Garang more than anybody in Awiel, I think you all knows whole anecdote more than me. Garang is doing story of sturdy four bulls in the forest. Lion King tried to ate them, but not because they were together. He continued to played deception game until he eventually ate them one by one after he separated them. we don't want that short story to happen to us, Our values and braveness can stand upright and speak on our behave in Southern Sudan. when you see somone challenge Garang authority be sure to support your brother, because this guy is nothing to our people. We survived two decade slavery and horrendous killing of our braves’ men and women; we didn’t fail to contribute more soldiers to the S.P.A. like other tribes and his people, he kept our braves men to fouht the war along the border; let me assure you that we can do well without him. Be united and speak the same tone.
Peter Gum said "You cannot be good leader if you don’t have kindhearted and compassionate"
Thank you so much for inspiring topic. Iam quite sure Aweil will have a real compentent governor, when a true and fair democracy rings in the mind of ever member in the new sudan or the new southern to be,in case of secession after interim period.
As matter of facts, we have or had two competetive ideals in our constuent, Aweil.The loyalistic and the patriotic ideals.The first ideal conflicts with unity and fair governancy, and equal distribution of the resources in our district or state.It also narrows the thinking capacity of our intellectuals and gives them a shy away mentality as one loses their post from their kings for reasons not known. For example, Lawrence Akuei , Makuei and so on so forth.The later,which most of our elders and the intelluctuals in the post struggle and present lack, is so essential for those who want to fairly, be represented in any aspects of life, being socially, economically , politically etcetra.
Therefore, Mareng , i may wrap up that for our state to have so impartial leader, is to find the best methods of getting togather the loyalists and patriots in current power. I mean the commanders or any responsible individual from aweil in the NIF AND THE GOSS TO BE. Although it may take a long time, it might result into success, a good and a very lastly one.
Now that Aweil has been a State, what can we do to create a competent and responsible leadership?
I believe we need honesty, trust, integrity, respect, and responsibility in term of accountability in Aweil leadership. Aweil citizens, this time, need to have the leadership that truely fights and protects them.
I enjoyed reading your posts. Mading Aweil is a strong state, with strong people. Our problem is that our people have been fooled by Garang Mabior to a point that they do not longer differentiate between truth or false. It was John Garang who left our people to be enslaved by muralleen while our brave brothers were fighting the enemy in other parts of the south. It was him again who refused to rescue our people when they were dying of starvation in 1988 because he wanted the population of Aweil to reduce. When I see Aweil person praising this evil man, I go crazy. He has chased away all our leaders and called them nyigats. Then we people who are fooled by him accepted and begin calling our own brothers nyigats while they were chased away by this tyrant. People of Mading Aweil should unite, this dictator is not going to do anything for them. We wanted help from him when we were suffering but he did not give it to us, there is no more we need from him now during peace, our can do on our own. All our leaders who were chased away are free to come back Mading Aweil, no one will touch them at this time. Our eyes are wide open now. I will catch up with you later.
thank very much for outstand topic. it's really crucial for aweil personals around the world to decide who will be their future governor, if aweil is pronounce a province/state. we need complex mind and competent leaders. we should discourage sons of X and Y if we want to complish peaciful state. poplarity don't measure the consistency of leaders.
all,
a lot of you alleged john garang as dictator, we shouldn't make garang excuses to win in politics. garang is not president but the leader of rebel. there is no constituton that elect john garang to be president, we all still under khartuom government as bashir only president untill six year of interm period. john garang is one of millions southern sudanese who took arm against the brutal government of khartuom. famine is nature thing, so shouldn't blame anyone for it. if all don't remember, i do. i remember when spla/splm personals knock at our door demanding for food or ration, which mean they depend on civilians for food.
