Mangar Mayor Gai Attributes Sudan, South Sudan’s Political Unrest To Self-enrichment And Money Rather Than Power

Mangar Mayor Gai, a South Sudanese citizen, and well-wisher, has opinionated the unrest characterized by chaos and hostilities in Sudan and South Sudan to self-enrichment and money and not even power as it seems.

Mangar states that the use of guns to claim political balance or equity continues to be in use as depicted by the ongoing conflict between the Sudan army and the paramilitary group- the rapid support forces. And to him, the problem in South Sudan is not power but resources and in fact, the direct cause is money, adding that Power becomes the cause because it is the one that makes leaders gain access to resources. “One can not get such a share without political power”.

He points out that Since 1955 when Sudan became independent, it underwent a series of coups because of many reasons. The first and most important reason is an unequal distribution of resources and public goods.

Secondly, after the Arabs succeeded in blocking Southerners over the Control of resources which the Southerners had no idea (how much in dollars was generated from them), they fought over the resources because some of them were dissatisfied with un equality in the distribution of resources and public goods including roads, hospitals, schools, among others.

In his article, Mangar relays an account after the independence of South Sudan where a transitional government was formed to usher South Sudan into a democratic era. He states that this government never provided effective leadership to South Sudanese but rather embarked on self-enrichment as only a few elites became the beneficiaries of oil money.

To him, it is the reason the opposition parties have devised a new way of maintaining their share of power and that is the extension strategy. They keep extending the transitional period because of unfinished businesses in the implementation of the peace accord and fail to commit themselves to implementing them. Also, it is to keep them in power since they lack the support of the masses and this in turn deprives them of political will to subscribe to democratic approaches of getting power.

Mangar, therefore, seeks a change of heart through writing to the leaders to improve- if not better, the lives of the people of South Sudan through equitable distribution of public goods and equal opportunities for all, asserting that leadership is not a source of getting wealth but it is basically for change of lives of the people through the provision of effective leadership.