Victor Atem Atem: The last hope for peaceful, cohesive and stable Gogrial state
8 min readBy Longar Mathiec Wol, Juba, South Sudan
December 14, 2017 (SSB) — Gogrial state, the state that has been marred by on and off violence for years. The state cover by the cloud of hate and distress. But remember, as Martin Luther king Jr said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”.
To the people of Gogrial state hate never resolve a problem it actually fueled it; it’s time we sit down as communities, brothers and sisters and talk to ourselves, let see where we went wrong and correct our mistake and retain our relationship as communities. Our communities are unique and they should not be source of our problems but our strength. It’s time we disassociate ourselves from violence that is being fueled by people with their personal interest.
As the cried of people continued to rang louder every day, the appointment of the current governor Victor Atem Atem (Governor of Gogrial state) has come at the right time; the time when the need for change become apparent. The citizens’ prayers for the right man has been heard. The uncertainty seems to have ceased; the hope toward stable Gogrial state remain high, his appointment brought exultantment and the despondent become hopeful; future look a little bit bright.
During his applauseable and elation appointment the governor immediately took a drastic measures when he arrived in the state to restore law and order, regain the public trust and revive the hope in the faces of million leaving in uncertainty and excruciating level of suffering in the state.
As a proud citizen of Gogrial State I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the president; we/I congratulate him for appointing the man many people believe to be a neutral person in the Gogrial state dangerous politics of “inciting them and rule them”. We have seen in the past some circumstances where people who are believed to have been involved in incitement have become leaders whether director or in directly through their agents.
It’s time to tell blood thirsty politicians that time has come to do honorable thing. The citizens can’t take this nonsensical politics any more, we are tired of it; enough is enough.
Since his appointment is welcome by the people, the first issue he should embarked and that he has already started is to disarm this belligerent and malevolent society that is ready to die for unreasonable circumstances. Disarming this group and the deployment of the police and army in the hot spot areas till the normalcy return should followed.
We know the disarmament might be challenging in term of human right violation by some of the indiscipline personnel from the organize forces but is better for the government to harm one and protect two then leaving them to continue with their mission of self-massacre.
We know many disarmament attempts has been done before and prove futile still there is a hope that this time the process is being undertaken by the man with people’s confident, the warrying sections or communities believe in his neutral position and the possibilities of success are high. There is going to be many complains, but the process in my view should continue as long as it is peaceful.
Many incidents will occurred and the correction measures should be taken on the way knowing that disarmament is the only solution to the current situation in the state and the rest of the country. Though, not every weapons outside there should be collected because of the remoteness of some areas and some are registered and not mean for bad intention.
The state government through the police should also come up with the mechanism of licensing the weapons that are believe to be in the hand of the right people.
When the disbarment is done the next stage should be the reform in the state organs. In the state there are people who have bad intention and these are the people working day and night to make sure that this nonsensical communal violence continues. Such people should be shown exit door if the investigation proof that the person is indeed has been involve either directly or indirectly.
That can only happen if the tribunal committee is establish to investigate, trial and convict the people who they suspected to have been involved in committing atrocities.
For the final peace to come the root causes of the conflict should be address and resolve through open inter and intra communities dialogue where people are given a conducive environment to make sure that they express themselves and suggest the permanent solution to the problem. Addressing the conflict matters and coming up with the permanent solution needs you to address the historical and current issues that led to the conflict between or among the communities.
We know it will not be a walking in a park, but with the confident and the hope people of Gogrial state put on him indicates there is hope. The blood thirsty politicians might not give him space and peace of mind to continue with his agenda of peaceful Gogrial state. But we the people of Gogrial state are behind you Mr. Governor.
We are behind anyone who support peace in the country in general and in Gogrial state particular. Many people in the state specifically the politicians who believe the chaos should be the order of the day need to be told that their days are numbered and time has come to an end.
Mr. Governor you know that your policies might sabotage directly or indirectly by the chaotic and failed politicians who only benefit in anarchy and continue to lead the state to the darkness, but we say no and the time has come when they should be told to keep off. If they think they are tired of politics they should retired and go home.
There are manty thing to do to enrich themselves. Let give time to the governor and support him so that he could bring back our state to the total stability. He is the savior and the only last hope for peaceful, cohesive and stable Gogrial state. In the eyes of the suffering innocent people of Gogrial he is simply the hero.
In his report to the presidency after three months of his appointment and the declaration of the state of emergency Governor Atem assured the president that the state is calm, peaceful and stable. Due to his integrity and the trust people of Gogrial state has bestowed upon him, he said people are honoring his present and the state of emergency announced almost four months ago.
He also brief the president on some of challenges his government faced on the ground and some of the steps and the programme he put in place to make sure that the stability returns to Gogrial state. The governor also requested the presidency to send the qualified judges to the state to trial some of the suspects that has been suspected to have committed the atrocities toward their fellow Gogrialians.
As the people of Gogrial state we have hope that your integrity made thing easy for the people to understand and cooperate with you. We wish you all the best in your efforts toward stabilizing Gogrial state. We know enemies of peace will soon start their lobbying against you but with the strength and the will of the people you will continue to serve them.
You will be the first governor in the history of South Sudan communal conflict resolution that had been honor by your people to stop fighting when the heard of your appointment and before you even reach out to them.
However, be warned there has been many good leaders in many part of the world including South Sudan that have been misled and spoil by his/her inner circle, your colleagues, close aide can easily ruin you and your plan; be a man of your word, continue with your agenda of peaceful Gogrial state. It is not bad to have advice but you need to put in place the mechanism of verifying and know the different between truths and false.
Hence, with heavy heart as the disease of communal and tribal killings spread across the nation, I would like to send my heartfelt condolence to the people of greater Jonglei and greater lakes for the loss of lives. As the state of emergency has been declared in the greater lakes we wish them well as the security apparatus encroach to their door steps to disarm them.
The only way we should reduce this level of insecurity in our country is to voluntarily give up our arms, we have seen in the past how this arms did more harm than good to us.
Finally, with all the insecurity and the communal violence getting worst the state of emergency alone will not assists unless the people appointed to oversee that process are patriotic in hearts to make sure every individual regardless of who they are, are disarmed. For my governor Hon, Victor Atem I wish you all the best as you embark on comprehensive disarmament and return the bleeding state of Gogrial state back to its feet and normalcy.
For other governors they should learn from Gov. Victor Atem Atem though his efforts is not yet a successful story there are many things to admire in the way he approached the communal conflict in Gogrial state and his continue neutrality and integrity.
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