By Monydo Deng Jok
Brisbane, Australia
On Tuesday, December 13, 2022, a video of the President of the Republic of South Sudan urinating on himself surfaced and circulated widely across social media platforms.
South Sudanese who live in foreign nations and foreigners from countries, like Kenya, Uganda Nigeria, the United States of America, etc., used the video as a ground for uttering displeasing words meant to mock the president. South Sudanese, in huge numbers, were excited as they exchanged communications in the president’s name on the same matter.
This did not go down well with many others because, in their view, the President is a symbol of national unity. He is the head of state and government, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and supreme commander of all the organized forces. The constitution vested in him such powers that he was tasked with running the country’s affairs.
While executing his responsibilities, the President must be accorded comfort that extends to the protection of his dignity. He is the face of the country, and therefore, he is supposed to be well-kempt under all circumstances. He should be treated with the utmost care by the people employed in his office. There are many departments staffed with many employees, so the president can be safe from human error.
With the South Sudanese President, there is limited care provided, especially on his recent visit to Terekeka and Guolyier, to commission the construction of the Juba-Bahr el Ghazal Highway. Whatever happened to the president is beyond the scope of this article. Whether he was pressed because his aides had not thought of taking him for refreshment at the lavatory or whether it happened because of a medical issue or a mere age factor, it remains true that there was an element of neglect or an intentional exposure by the fifth columnist.
Something like that could not have surfaced in the public domain. The shame it has attracted was brought about by his uncaring employees. The blame goes to his personal assistant, his close protection officer, the security team, the protocol officers, and, of course, the press unit, which could have prevented this from spilling over to the public.
In this sense, the president was demeaned and exposed, hoping to shame him. Something that these people didn’t know is that the shame is now on the nation and not president Salva Kiir. As South Sudan, we have shamed ourselves by indulgently exposing our leader. We opted to disown our batch, shame our president, and deceitfully claim dignity.
To critically analyse the incident in question, one would dissect the matter into simpler parts to create a comprehensive understanding. In doing this, the following questions could be asked:
What happened to his personal assistant? Does he know his responsibilities? What was he supposed to assist the president with? What about the close protection officer? Is the current officer assigned to this task endowed with the competencies necessary to be up to the task without shaming the head of state? Is he well trained? What about the protocol officials—are they supposed to execute protocol work? What if the entire security team opted to confiscate the cameras to protect him? If all these lines had failed? Then what role did the Press Unit play? These are not rhetorical questions; they are genuine ones, and if answered, they can expose the rot in the President’s system.
Failure by the personal assistant of the president to ensure that the president pees before attending the meeting is a factor of pride on his side. It is like people around the president are too accustomed to the fact that they are not subject to probe that they only think of themselves as superiors in their own right.
Gen. Lual Maroldit, the Republican Guard Commander, is too political that he executes the administrative responsibilities in the office of the president. This interference has birthed its own setbacks. He recently sent away nearly all the experienced officers closer to the president, mainly Akol Santo Areech, who was dedicatedly executing his job with utmost professionalism. He was passionate and meticulous about his endeavours, and just a few months after his removal, as directed by Lual Maroldit, they throw the president into an uncalled-for mess.
Maroldit replaced him with a person of his choice to create a shame of this magnitude. Gen. Lual Maroldit’s desire to configure the presidential last line of officers in a falsified attempt to streamline the command is basically a trial to fully overhaul the President, and he started by shaming him.
This is exactly a reflection of the fact that those that overthrow presidents use their weaknesses to expose them to the public, torture them mentally, and finally push them off.
Lual has very limited knowledge of his job description, which is why the security team of the president couldn’t deter the cameramen and women that were covering the event from publishing the videos they took during the event. Lual has usurped the responsibilities of the security officers. Lual is no longer a general of standing character; he has meddled in politics. Last year, he was involved in negotiating with politicians in opposition on behalf of the president.
The protocol officers were nowhere to be seen. They could not even shield the president from the cameras with their bodies? They couldn’t whisk him away? They failed totally to do anything of value.
What role did the Press Unit do? Why did they allow this publication? Was the event covered by random camera people without their permission, and if the video was already recorded, how did they fail to stop it from reaching the public?
They staffed all the departments within the presidency with people who are against the president or not interested in executing their job.
The matter at hand should be investigated, and those culpable deserve commensurate punishment as shall be determined by law.
Generally, the officials tasked with various responsibilities around the President should be sacked. They are rotten to the core. They no longer deserve to be part of the presidential team because they are too complacent.
This shouldn’t only be meted out to the junior officers; it should start with Lual Maroldit, head of the security team, protocol officials, the personal assistant, the close protection officer, and the entire press unit.
Finally, all the South Sudanese who are dancing themselves to lameness, thinking that they are shaming the president, should note that the matter in question is not deserving of any mockery. The president is our symbol, and any shame he attracts belongs to all of us. As head of state and government, he is the father figure and all must protect his image.