Truth shall prevails: The case of Ruweng people struggle against Taban Deng Gai
5 min readBy Daniel Juol Nhomngek, Kampala, Uganda
April 8, 2017 (SSB) — In recent time, the people of Ruweng State have been faced with the problem of Taban Deng who is trying by all means to create disturbances and disunity among them. This is due to his personal interest.
Interest of Taban in Ruweng State is oil and because of oil, Taban is using all means to create disunity among the people of Ruweng State. It must be noted that Taban and oil are synonymous and Taban will never accept post in the government unless such a post brings him closer to resources and oil in particular.
The clear example to show that Taban needs only oil was in 2016 when he rejected the post in the Government after the appointment because he discovered the post to take him away from oil.
In addition, it is because of oil, Taban is struggling hard to become the vice president of South Sudan as he hopes that such a post will put him in control of oil and other resources.
In becoming President of South Sudan, Taban will be able to use resources and state apparatuses to destroy the people of Ruweng and take over their land, which follows of oil, honey and food.
It is also because of oil Taban is creating good relationship with Sudan. Establishing good relationship with Sudan will enable Taban to control the oil and export it to the Arab’s word through Sudan. This was what he was doing before the independence of South Sudan when he was a governor of Unity state.
Because of oil, Taban saw Theji, the former Governor as an obstacle to his quest for unbridled oil wealth and because of that he influenced the President to dismiss the Governor of the people, Hon. Theji. This move was calculated by General Taban to be the entry point as Theji locked him out from the Community.
With removal of Theji and appointment of his puppet, Them Machar Kuol, Taban hopes that it would be easier for Them to divide the people of Ruweng Stat be on the ground. This is because the side where Them comes from with stand with him against Pariang.
In order to further weaken Pariang he advised the President to appoint Mabek given the fact that Mabek was his friend and also a friend to Them Machar, so he mistakenly thought that they were still his friends and therefore, he thought that they would be his perfect machines for community division.
However, to Taban’s dismay, Mabek declined to assume the duty of being the Deputy Governor of the Pseudo SPLM/A-IO in Juba. Hence, throwing Taban’s plan to destroy the unity of the people of Ruweng State into disarray and for that reason, I would like to thank Mabek for making a wise decision.
Looking at the activities of Taban Deng Gai above, it can be concluded that Taban is First Vice President for personal interest. Thus, I have never found the Country where citizens are targeted and divided by the vice president except South Sudan.
In South Sudan, therefore, the First Vice President, Taban Deng Gai, used his Executive powers to grab or to try to grab the land of the ordinary citizens, which is an abuse of power.
Using powers of Vice Presidency to grab land or take away ordinary citizens’ resources is an affront to the office of the Vice President and Presidency in general. Hence, a vice president in its ordinary meaning is an officer in government or business who is below a president and who is managing director in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning “in place of”. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president.
As seen in the definition above, the Vice President is a president in waiting and also the one responsible for the Government’s business. Hence, the Transitional Constitution provides for the functions of the Vice President, which include (a) act for the President in his or her absence from the country; (b) be a member of the Council of Ministers; (c) be a member of the Security Council; and (d) perform any other function or duty that may be assigned to him or her by the President.
It, therefore, implies that where the President is not capable of performing his or her duty due to some problems, then the Vice will take over for a period as provided for in law. This arrangement helps to close the gaps that would have been created had the president just disappear without tracing then the Vice will take over.
My advice to the people of Ruweng is that they must remain united irrespective of who is appointed. They must remain together and ready to fight against Taban unless they are consulted.
In addition, I would like also to advise the youth and elders of Ruweng State that they should not let down the people of Ruweng by accepting the appointment of Taban Deng Gai. They should reject his appointment like what Mabek did to people out the advances of Taban.
The people of Ruweng must remain united because it is through unity and truth that is when they can win. Truth is Powerful and it prevails if people remains in its path and accept to be guided by it.
In summary, the people of Ruweng State should not give Taban a chance to succeed in his undemocratic procedure. They must fight for their rights unless Taban follows democratic process in consulting them and so that they must be informed first before any decision is taken.
In addition, they must demand to be given power to decide for themselves. The people of Ruweng State must know that when there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation (see; Atifete Jahjaga Power, Law, Democracy Read more at: ttps://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_power.html)
NB//: the author is South Sudanese lawyer and he can be reached through juoldaniel@yahoo.com/ +256783579256
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