If you want a strong economy and prosperity, then keep security and peace constant

By Eng. Chuar Juet Jock

In a Nutshell

As our villagers are finishing themselves across the country. I wrote this piece on January 25, 2022, In a Nutshell- On the importance of providing Comprehensive Security all around the country!

Last year during the “In a Nutshell” 7th celebration, I talked about the importance of security to both humans’ lives, businesses, and development in general. However, until today, the insecurity in South Sudan and particularly in rural areas seems to be the norm, not the exception where our villagers seem to be enjoying killing each other in great numbers. I believe this is due to the absence of a comprehensive security plan that’s realistically addressing the true factors and elements that are behind such grave insecurity.

Well, remember that those who carry out these attacks whether to raid cattle or for tribal revenge are mostly villagers, not people who are sitting in offices in cities like Juba even though some of us believe that there are hidden fingers and masterminds in those cities and aboard helping those villagers in terms of planning of those attacks. Well, these persistent attacks not all of them are about cattle raids. You don’t kill people in those large numbers including women and children if your objective is to come and steal cattle.

This persistent insecurity cannot be allowed to be the norm. A comprehensive security strategy is needed and empowering local chiefs whether at the clan or tribal level is the key. Those chiefs know very well the members of their clans and communities and they can exercise real control over the actions of the clans’ members. When you go and attack another community, you start from somewhere and when you bring the stolen cattle, they also end somewhere and this can’t go unnoticed.

There is no single individual that doesn’t belong to a family or community in South Sudan and all of us are under a form of government be it local, state, or federal. What level of government do the villagers belong to? The local government of course consists of counties’ commissioners way down to tribal and clan chiefs. These villagers are under tribal and clan chiefs and here is where the local, state or federal governments can exercise control over those villagers by empowering these chiefs, working with them effectively, and also putting them under accountability whenever members of their clans attack others communities.

Offering these chiefs good incentives, wide authority, police force, and communication devices but above all they need to be extensively oriented on the techniques and tactics about what they should do to prevent attacks, monitor and control their clans’ members, and how they should be in constant communication with all level of governments, reporting and requesting help whenever they need it.

A lot of lives have been lost since 2005 due to communal infighting and cattle raid leave alone the civil war and the insecurity in urban cities. It is the time our leaders have to value their people’s lives and place their security as the number one priority.

Eng. Chuar Juet Jock

Founder/CEO of Nile Computers

Author of the “In a Nutshell” Book Series available at amazon.com