Africa-Press – South-Sudan. A wise man somewhere once said: “A lazy man quarrels with his tools.’’ This saying, which has now been rendered into a cliché, could be losing taste, but it befits the situation we find ourselves in.
Most of the time, we like to blame others for our failures, even when we know it is our own fault or weakness. We tend to use other means as a scapegoat to push the blame away.
It has become a tradition in our society that whenever one or a group of people speak out about issues that affect them, they are referred to as “people who are being used by politicians.”
You can remember when Sudan was still one country, especially at the time when the South was heading towards the referendum. Anyone who dared speak on any issue affecting them would be put on a bandwagon of a sell-out dining with the Arabs to derail the separation of the South from the North.
Although the accusations did not have any basis, they were somehow understandable because everybody was focused on separation. Hence, any good talks about the National Congress Party were considered to be dragging people towards unity.
Nevertheless, today, one still cannot understand why, even after gaining independence, we still blame others, make excuses, and become defensive to create an illusion that so and so is being used by the politicians, which is not true in most cases.
Just recently, the Central Equatoria State Teachers’ Union laid down their tools demanding a 100 per cent salary raise, and they were accused of being used by the politicians. Also, when the students petitioned the state ministry of education to find out why the teachers were not coming to classes, they were told not to be deceived by the politicians. In the real sense, there is no correlation between the students’ rights and the politicians’, but sometimes as leaders, we make excuses or blame others just to divert attention from our mistakes or failures.
Our leaders need to have listening ears to the concerns of their citizens without diverting the attention of the public from the case at hand. If there are issues concerning poor basic services, let us just dwell within and find a solution to how best it can be addressed rather than taking the direction of the blame game. When a child asserts his or her right to education and health care, no parent will blame his or her neighbours.
In most cases, some people feel that blaming others is the perfect and natural thing to do to make the person or group of people forget about their needs. But we need to know that when someone does not speak about his or her needs, you may not know the difficulties they are experiencing. Thus, it is good to allow the people to speak out about their needs because it gives the government the space to fulfil its obligations. We should stop blaming others for our mistakes.
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