Cast your votes for complete independence from the north.

I am a native of south Sudan, Torit, Eastern Equatoria state, and would like to say the following to those who know little about south Sudan.

South Sudan is a huge land, inhabited by more that 500 ethnic groups, that was kept apart from each other since independence January 1st 1956. They have been fighting for their rights as citizens of Sudan. The main reason for that division lies on the system of divide and rule.

Sudan is a multi-cultural country, but the north, or rather the ruling party, rules the entire country under Islamic Sharia law. This law does not include those non-Muslim. In other words, in order to be a Sudanese, one must become a Muslim. Given the multi-cultural diversity of the country, this is a nightmare.

The country Sudan belongs to all Sudanese and therefore, because of multi-culture, and traditions put together to form what we call the Sudan, it must be ruled by secular laws for inclusiveness,otherwise there will be no room for peaceful co-existence.

The country is now divided more than ever before along ethnic, religious and race line. Every piece of land that makes the Sudan is complaining of exclusion, discrimination, racist and political neglect etc.

All Sudanese must put aside all their differences in order to keep the country united, otherwise, if the north insist on Islamic sharia laws, then the south has no option, but to secede and become an independent states under secular laws, which they believe will accomodate everybody regardless of religion, political affliation, or ethnic group. After all, democracy demands tolerance.

2 million lives has been sucrificed in the south in the last civil war that began in 1983 and has ended in January 2005 and we believe that was enough to conclude that Sudan can only enjoy peace if the north agree on unity in diversity under secular law, where the capital Khartoum will be without Islamic sharia, in order to accomodate non-Muslims.

There is no single individual in the south who is thinking to cast his/her vote for Unity of the Sudan, because of the experience since independent 1956. Under the peace agreement signed in 2005, the north must develop the south in order to make unity attractive to the people in the south, but the north has not done that up to now. We can now conclude that the people in the north has devorced the south, and we are now ready to cast our votes for complete independence from the north and become first class citizen of your own country.

Leadership is still a nightmare in developing countries

When you hear about leadership, imediately you think of someone elected by the people for the people, to serve the people. But in developing countries, leadership is a prestigious position, where leaders are served by the people and that in my view is a nightmare.

We have leaders in Africa, who are spending public funds for their own interests. For example, you find the son/daughter of the president goes to school with a convoy of six cars, provided by the government to guard, yet a police stations are without a single car. People who need police help are asked to provide transport to the police to go and enforce the law or rather investigate a crime.

Leaders should be made aware that the era of serving leaders has gone, it is time the masses be served by their leaders. We need accounterbility, transperency and honesty. Good governace prevails when leaders serve the people they govern. Every individual in the leadership position must be held accountable for their services.

No one is above the law, and therefore holding public office must have a limit of two terms, depending on service delivery, ability and qualification. Any elected leader who did not deliver the expected service should not be re-elected in the public office.

People need peace and stability to render services in order to develop their economies and leades need to provide security without question. In south Sudan, this is exactly the opposite, where you find leaders using people to get what they want. For example, the leaders are know for inciting division among ethnic group to fight each other, to raise political interests. This is happening due to high rate of illiteracy. I believe that if the people really know what is really happening, they would unite and kick out those selfish leaders.

We need each other more than ever

Today’s political parties in Sudan are largely the products of the long struggle of its people from the colonial era to the present time. Today, as society changes, The South Sudan political parties, must meet new challenges. All parties wants to be alive and eager to develop ways of working towards the realities of the 21st century. This requires, on the one hand, openness to different ways of showing one’s involvement, whilst on the other basing this on a foundation of common values that can create a greater whole. An important role to all parties is to be a link between official decision-makers and the involved citizens in the society.

We nee each other more than ever before, to participate in the development of south Sudan. Each individual plays a unified reponsibility to achieving one goal. Good system govern by principles of law. Every one is accountable for their actions and everybody is equal before the law.

Chaos surrounding the forthcoming presidential election manifest irresponsible management in the system. We need to support our leaders as much as posible to make sure our democratic rights take shape smoothly, and our referendum rights are guarranteed in January 2011.