Our Voting Is Done in Public

The kind of work that I do here in Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State can be very stressful. I am trying to establish systems that aren’t there. I work from village to village facilitating village development committees, known as Community Action Groups (CAGs). The word to underscore there is “action”. I emphasize on this because leadership is slightly misunderstood here. To some, leadership means giving peoples instructions and boosting them around. And this is commonly practice in Dinka communities. I say this because am a Dinka and understand the concept well. I must point out though; the concept of leadership is also understood differently among the village illiterates.
Traditionally, leaders who won hearts and minds of their followers were those who demonstrated spirit of shared responsibilities. As far as I can remember, when I was a young boy growing up in the village, I witnessed some pretty impressive layers of Dinka’s leadership. There were leaders in what they called “Beny Wur” also known in other Dinka’s version as “nhom e Gol”. This is a position attains when one shows these two traits; a good wrestler with many herds of cows. You have to be also generous to help the needy ones at times when your help is needed. The other area one becomes a leader is the village. In many cases, village is where elders retire in. Cattle camps are left for young energetic people who are able to take cattle grazing in some distance places. It’s also a place where young Dinka boys and girls are sent to learn some useful live skills there. While in the village, elder now practice farming to support their livelihoods as well as that of those in the cattle camps in cases where there are few or no lactating cows. But, more importantly, the village is where important issues are discussed and resolved. In other words, even those in the cattle camps are within the jurisdiction of village chiefs.
This traditional leadership is less corrupt and more caring then what is seen with more affluent leaders. In fact, village chiefs were used and still are used for levying taxes. There is usually a great accountability and transparency in the way they do their things. Many issues are discussed in a caucus of elders (chiefs) and disseminated in the same manner.
So when I say “leadership means giving peoples instructions and boosting them around”, it is in the context of elites. This is why word “action” becomes a centerpiece of my discussion when I do community mobilization. Additionally, I am dealing with communities devastated by war and sense of self-reliance has been completely shattered. Their independent live style has been replaced by relief services in the last twenty two years. People have gotten used to free things that it has become a detriment to their own livelihoods.
That is why I am focusing on establishing these action groups. As part of the USAID program to create sustainable livelihoods in these villages, my work is to make this goal achievable. I have my team of community development stationed in the counties that our program operates in. This was to maintain visibility and closeness with these communities. Besides, I get immediate feedbacks from them about what the community thinks about our work. So far this had worked.
But, the most important strategy has been election of the members. To able to form a Community Action Group (CAG), there are few things that are done before. First, we employed the widely known development methodologies known as Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and Appreciative Planning & Action (APA). These methodologies stimulate the community’s curiosity, which, therefore, calls for action. At that point, the idea becomes locally born and is immediately own by them. The call for action is that members have to be elected by the community. Perhaps, I have mentioned in my previous article, that these gatherings are attended by a number between 200 to 300 villagers. As such gatherings are new in many of these areas; they draw people of different ages and sexes. In election, members are first nominated by the assembly and then elected through plurality.
I must point out that our elections, although quite remote a process, are the most transparent you can ever ask for. Candidates are lined up, and general assembly chooses by lining behind a candidate of choice. Given the communal way of live in these communities, it must be hard to show favor in public. At first, I feared this would be the case. But, it never did. Almost everyone who attends these gatherings tends to vote. This is why I think we have just established “a brave democracy”. We do not need secret valets here!