Dr. John Garang’s Remains Heavily Guarded While His Family and Vision Remain in Exile
South Sudan Heavily Guards Dr. John Garang De Mabior’s Mausoleum in Juba While His Family and Vision Remain in Exile
By Dut-machine De Mabior, Nairobi, Kenya
June 5, 2015 (SSB) — Dr. John Garang Mausoleum is one of the most secured sites in the Republic of South Sudan’s capital, Juba. The reasons for this heavy security are yet to be established by the author but citing personal generated reasoning, one of them could be to accord the National Hero, the founder of the nation his respect even in the world beyond. This is a reason every South Sudanese applauses our government on.
If there is only one very important national in our country, then Dr. John De Mabior is and if they are many, Dr. John De Mabior is the first. The man among many others who tried to emancipate South Sudanese from the Khartoum oppressive rule led a successful, visionary and iconic rebellion that saw the birth of our country. For this very reason, Dr. John Garang De Mabior Atem (RIP Hero) deserves the very much preserved respect from South Sudanese and guarding him even in death is one of them.
However, as a nation we have done very little to give Dr. John the respect he had expected. In my view, the hero would be happy if the post-Garang leadership had clung to the vision and Garangism of having a country that is ccommodative of all the people. Dr. Garang would be a happy man had he seen the vision he fought for being implemented.
As the article intents not to blame anybody, the first misfortune that befallen the SPLM leaders after the death of Dr. John was the spirit of confusion. People knew not where to start from but fortunately, they implemented the vision that Dr. Garang had filed in the papers through the CPA. The claims were that “Dr. Garand died but the vision remains” only for South Sudanese to realize thereafter the vision which remained was the filed one but not the post independent vision in his brain.
The original visions of the SPLM, perhaps not the SPLM-IO, neither the SPLM-IG and probably till proven beyond any doubt but still not the SPLM-FDs. These factions of the SPLM were the ones combined in Juba but directed the country to ‘hell’. The original SPLM, I mean the Garang SPLM that fought united for twenty-one years.
The SPLM promised to take towns to the people, what we did was to evict people to the UN and the displaced camps. The SPLM promised to use the oil funds to develop agriculture; we used the petroleum funds to develop our personal accounts. Although the corruption claims in Juba are politically motivated, I still feel corruption in South Sudan is real.
The SPLM solemnly promised to have improved lives of its veterans; we exposed the SPLM veterans to the risk of not affording even a single meal for their families a day. The SPLM promised to have a driving nation, we only have packed vehicles in Juba and the nation is VIP-less, South Sudan is trekking. SPLM promised to have a stable economy of $1=ssp 2 but we created a system that enables a dollar equates to roughly ssp 10+.
The SPLM promised to have a country where tribalism is not an identity, we created a state where speaking a certain ethnicity saves your life in crises. SPLM promised to have a state that embraces democracy and fundamental freedoms, we created a state that jails, murders and mistreats citizens for positive criticism. SPLM promised to develop infrastructure, we only created a system that destroys the little the country inherited from the dull rule of Khartoum.
SPLM promised to have a country of equal citizenry with equal opportunities, we have a system that defines by default national security to be the first nationals and everyone else is an etcetera. This is so because national security dictates what citizens should laugh at, what they should be told through the media and what they should tell their government.
SPLM promised to establish a system that offers job opportunities on merits, a system that employs citizens based on know-how, we created a system that gives jobs based on know-who. SPLM promised to have a nation that does business through selling of goods and services; we have a country currently that only sells dollars as the core business.
SPLM promised to establish a South Sudan that protects the properties of citizens not forgetting their lives; we only have the South Sudan that fears the security that is meant to protect them. The citizens loose properties to criminals every now and again. Lives are in risk as murdering is a daylight business.
SPLM promised to establish a country whose the national government would be advised by elderly South Sudanese, we only created a country where national leaders are only advised by their tribal council of elders.
If this writing would focus on the discrepancies and the incompetence of the current SPLM (3 factions) leadership, it would take numerous pages doing it.
Going astray on the above gives total disrespect to the late Dr. John. This was noted by some few elites in the SPLM to return the party to Garangism, the only thing we did was to expel them with the Dr. Garang vision to exile and his remains remained on land.
Dr. John Garang, a respected man of our history needs all the possible respect from us, but of what essence is it to us when we only protect his bones and his family, notably the wife and children are languishing in exile. Why did we choose to respect the past, not the present and the future? What respect are we giving him when the only thing we allow is the hate speech against Mama Rebecca and the family.
Maybe I need to remind people that, if Dr. John is the founding father of the nation as any other South Sudanese would unarguably put it, then conversely Mama Rebecca is the founding mother of the nation because for every being that has a father must have a mother. We do say, “behind every successful man is a strong woman” Dr. John is not immune to that theory and Mama Rebecca must be thanked for giving South Sudan a caring father.
The best thing we could give him alongside guarding his resting place is treat his family and vision with diligence and respect the way he diligently served the people of South Sudan.
Our system has been mounted on sycophancy; this is why we pretend to respect Dr. Garang whereas our actions do not replicate the verbal claims. There should be no point whatsoever of having a country that is not built on his path, his vision not in practice and his family not living in their Juba residence and we comfortably claim we respect him! The first casualties of the current raging crises are the truth and the respect for Dr. John.
For South Sudan to be brought back to the path of Dr. John; the SPLM to be a party that reverts the country from this mistrust, South Sudan must end this war and do so soonest; the country must be united again. We must ferry back all our leaders in exile and the South Sudan bushes to their residence in the capital, get the SPLM back to the Dr. Garang Vision, protect his grave together with his family in Juba and we shall have accorded him the respect he deserves from us.
This total mess should be solved promptly to show our reverence to the fallen hero and his colleagues whom we lost in the struggle for the Dr. Garang’s SPLM vision. As we talk, Dr. John’s vision has been exiled with his wife, Mama Rebecca De Mabior and her colleagues who cried loud in Juba to save the country from the current incompetence.
There is no doubt, uniting the country, stopping the war, implementing the Arusha Reunification of SPLM agreement, administering justice to the victims of this war of power struggle and other important accountability will prove our respect for Dr. De Mabior.
It’s sycophantic to heavily guard the Dr. Garang De Mabior’s remains while his family and his vision are being guarded by foreign securities in exile. Let’s do what the country is in dire need of so that we can protect Dr. Garang fully with his vision and the family in Juba.
South Sudan needs peace.
The author is a student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
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