Government of Gok State: Trading Money with Justice which is an Injustice
By Daniel Juol Nhomngek, Kampala Uganda
July 22, 2017 (SSB) — When the governor was appointed he was a good man as he was doing what the citizens of Gok State wanted. The government the citizens of Gok State need is the one that is neutral and able to protect their rights equally without being bias or seen to be bias. This was what the governor and his government was initially doing which made me to write colourfully in praise of him.
However, with time the government of Gok State began to be bias and also become more concern with how to raise money than protecting the interests of the citizens. Consequently, all the accused or all suspected of crimes that were arrested were released upon the payment of money.
Hence, the state of Gok was trading money with justice which is injustice. Money should never be substitute for justice. Therefore, increasing fines as a way of setting culprits or accused free is unfortunate. This is because injustices that have been committed among the citizens remained unaddressed as money has become more important than lives and the need for justice by the Gok State citizens.
Gok State use the government as a project of raising money and this was one of the reasons the State has been taxing and fining citizens of Gok State with exorbitant sum of money in the pretext of State building. What kind of state building is it? It is not clear. State building in my understanding means building people not roads, or buying cows for personal use or houses of governors or government officials.
In fact, the government is not working well as the governor has been accused of taking side when there is a conflict among the people of Gok State. In the same way, the government officials are being accused of corruption and the State parliament is impeaching commissioners and ministers.
Citizens of Gok State have gone back to revenge killings as seen in the previous conflict between Waat and Ayiel where innocent civilians were murdered in the city of Gok State, also the killing of a person from Pancinyiny by Pagor and now revenge killing that took the life of the person from Pagor side (Mapan Machar, may his soul R.I.P).
The above scenarios show that things are not good in Gok State and the one to be blamed for those problems is the government of Gok State not citizens. The government in this context means the governor, ministers and advisors.
The Government is elected or appointed and mandated to protect citizens and it has a duty to make sure that law is obeyed by the citizens or punish those who break the law. Thus, if the government fails to execute its duty to protect then it amounts to the failure of the government.
The killings in Gok State are due to the failure of the government and in particular the governor who is not able to remain neutral in the conflict. It is important for the leader to protect every person in the State. The governor must be consistent in dealing with people as inconsistency may create uncertainty in the system and people will always feel discontented with the system.
In general, the revenge and other killings in Gok State are caused by the failure of Gok State government to protect citizens as the governor and some of his ministers are more concerned with how to raise money than executing their duties to protect Gok people both internally and externally.
It defeats my understanding why the government can feel comfortable while one citizen is killing the other. Leadership is neither for enjoyment nor is it a means of raising money from the citizens but it is a means of protecting citizens including using personal resources in case of a need.
The government of Gok State should change the style of governance from being money oriented to people’s oriented if it were to be effective. The law should be that those who kill others should be killed through lawful means.
The Author, Daniel Juol Nhomngek, is a lawyer by profession who graduated with honors in law from School of Law, Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda. He participated in various works and training. He is the member of Public Interest Law Clinic (PILAC) and NETPIL (Network of Public Interest Lawyers; he is doing research with NETPIL on private prosecution he is trained in Alternative Dispute Resolution; he participated in writing in Law Street Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Uganda. He is currently staying in Kampala, Uganda where he is undertaking bar course training. He can be reached through: juoldaniel@yahoo.com or +256783579256.
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