Dr Jacob Dut Chol, Researcher, and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Juba during a talk show at Eye Radio, Nov. 14, 2023 - Credit: Eye Radio/Moses Awan

A senior Researcher says South Sudan needs what he terms ‘clean politics’ to unite the communities for an effective state.

Dr Jacob Dut Chol, who is also an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Juba says the politics in the country are marred with greed, tribal hatred, blackmailing, and fake news.

He was speaking on Eye Radio’s Dawn Show about his book titled; Introduction to Comparative Polices; Political Conundrum and The Changing World” due to be launched on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.

Dr Dut argues dirty politics is the reason behind rebellions, civil war, and conflict while citing conflicting interests, limited resources, and even societal divisions as the root causes.

He says if South Sudanese practice clean politics, this will strengthen democratic institutions, enhance governance, and ensure equitable distribution of resources.

This, he says, will in turn build public trust and confidence in the political leadership, leading to increased social cohesion and stability.

“The reason why we have all these rebellions in our country and even civil war and conflict is that the political is not clean, there’s politics of hatred, there’s politics of ethnicity, there’s politics of greed, there’s politics of blackmailing, there’s politics of fake news,” Dr Jacob told Eye Radio.

“All these things are not important for our country. that is why it is important for academic researchers, government officials, and even normal citizens to understand that whatever you do is evident base, there’s the truth you’re saying,” he said.

Dr Jacob is encouraging politicians to be evidence-based when speaking to the citizens.

“The political practices in South Sudan, the condition is that the elites which are political leaders should always look at books, should be reading, should research to see what is going on the world, and should also be speaking on the evidence base,” he said.

“The citizens also should be informed, they should be reading, they should be following up, should be advising the leaders, and which is evidence base, and which South Sudanese should be respected.”