By Gatkuoth Lok Gatwich Diet
Opinion.
Dec 05, 2016(Nyamilepedia) —— Dear readers, on behalf of my colleagues, the national liberation council members of the SPLM IO and on my own behalf I first of all, would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Dr. Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, chairman and commander- in- chief of the SPLM/SPLA IO for having entrusted these comrades into such significant positions. Second of all, I would love to profoundly and wholeheartedly congratulate the appointed comrades for having won the trust of the chairman who knows that they deserve to be entrusted to the core structure of our movement. And these comrades are none other than; Hon. Henry Odwar, who got appointed as deputy chairman of the SPLM/SPLA IO, Hon. Peter Tingo who was appointed as SPLM IO secretary general and Amb. Stephen Par Kuol Wang, appointed as chairperson of foreign relations and external affairs. Have the three been instrumental?
It is out of experience and my conviction that these triadic comrades are not only very instrumental in their previous positions during the course of our liberation struggle to get the present assignments given to them done as expected of them by us all, but also best fit our principle of deployment versus employment, which helps them in one form or the other to stand tall in defense of our cause. And therefore; these comrades are among the few best of us who unquestionably reflect the type of leadership we all believe in and cherish- that’s what I call, if you allow me as democratic-servant leadership.
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Now with this great news of their appointments, the best question to ask reads; what difference will the three make? Well, here exists a breathtaking difference which the first three, replaced by these three miserably missed or dishonoured, so to speak.
And before giving my humble answer to the afore-asked question, I will beg you to quickly take you first through brief selected accounts of the newly appointed comrades in the succeeding paragraphs.
Let us swiftly see how best the three have proved themselves trustworthy in the course of our struggle in the midst of their comrades and colleagues.
Cde. Henry Odwar who is a member of SPLM IO political bureau, previously before the signing of the dead august peace deal (DAPD-ARCISS) had worked as SPLM IO rapporteur and before the SPLM IO advance team went to Juba Cde. Odwar chaired the SPLM IO committee for constitutional review and subsequently got nominated as the movement hopeful for speakership of the transitional national legislative assembly, TNLA a process which was deliberately blocked by Kiir’s rogue and recalcitrant regime.
Next is Cde. Peter Tingo, who is a member of national liberation council, and has been serving as governor of Wau state. He impressed almost everyone including myself very much for one simple reason, which is that he is a down-to-earth person of goodwill and also a person of burning zeal to liberation struggle wanting to bring the enemy down to its knees.
Last is Cde. Amb. Stephen Par Kuol Wang like hon. Odwar is a member of political bureau and as a matter of fact this man walks his talk and like the aforesaid duo, he is an experienced politician and by then a minister of education in Jonglei state and after 2013 mass-massacre of the Nuer peoples by president Kiir Mayardit, Stephen saw it a necessary choice to join the SPLM/SPLA IO under Dr. Machar to fight a just war for a just cause, so to speak. He has been an instrumental chairperson of national committee for education, SPLM IO and became a rational and empirical member at the dead august peace talks in Addiss Ababa last year.
We one day met Cde. Kuol the day after the announcement of the appointments of the then Transitional Government of National Unity cabinet ministers, and when we were standing with him conversing, a young man among our comrades came to Stephen and said that he was sorry to learn that someone like Par was left out by the chairman, given the political mobilization he did for the chairman going to Juba in April this year and the grand reception of the chairman led by Stephen. In his reaction to the young comrade’s comment Kuol said, and I vividly remember, that “ … a government composed of your colleagues is your government”. Par said in humility in support of comrade chairman’s decision. He made a very inspiring and courageous statement ever rooted in some of the cardinal virtues notably fortitude, wisdom and love, knowing that the chairman, Dr. Machar, was well aware of his capability to do what he might be asked to do, by then or later or in future as now. And this caused my hard to reach conclusion that Stephen joined the movement principally for the cause which we are pursuing to achieve no matter what! Let us see the difference, which the triadic comrades shall make.
In hierarchical order, Henry Odwar, Peter Tingo and Par Kuol are tasked to make a difference by undertaking their deployments ( embodying responsibilities & duties )seriously to ensure that the movement vision is realized and its mission is thoroughly accomplished through its core objectives.
What does SPLM/A IO vision say such that it is to be sold out by these leaders? In answering this in brief, I paraphrased the 2015 manifesto of the SPLM/A IO under Dr. Machar, which spells it out categorically that this resistance movement shall lead, promote and maintain South Sudan as South Sudanese nation that under no conditions shall the sovereignty be given away in shameful situation to foreign predators or any internal interest groups. It is part of Hon. Odwar, Tingo and Kuol’s work to defend this vision and testify that South Sudan is one Republic for all south Sudanese people who are equal stakeholders in the struggle that brought the Independence of our country consequential to our current social contract under destruction by Juba via politics of isolationism, tribalism, feudalism, war-lordism, regionalism, and anti-nationalism and in rescue by Pagak to supplant the said vices with nationalism, liberty, justice, fraternity and social democracy. These core circle members should (responsibility) from now on vow to actualize I quote ‘…a democratic governance in the country through radical shift in practice and attitude towards democracy’ SPLM/A IO said manifesto. P. 13.
This minimizes any irrational call, whether internal or external for political gradualism and sequentialism which are oftentimes meant to procrastinating democracy coming to existence by dictators like Kiir Mayardit and their foreign clients like US under Obama administration which is hell-bent to mentoring dictators in Africa at the expense of Africans. Shame on the outgoing administration of the US!!!
The three comrades know very well that comrade chairman tasked them to be proud guardians to the SPLM/A IO mission, which says, SPLM/A IO, will work, I quote, ’ ….. to mobilize and empower South Sudanese people to contribute towards national development and transformation and create supportive socio, economic and political conditions for good life in a united, peaceful, harmonious and prosperous society’. I quoted from the aforementioned manifesto. P. 16. In this society for sure all south Sudanese citizens from different walks of life will live home a bearable life.
From these excepts extracted from our manifesto we can say with all certainty that our former three comrades namely; Alfred Ladu Gore, former deputy chairman, Dhieu Mathok, former SPLM IO secretary general and Lol Gatkuoth, former secretary for foreign relations and external affairs did not make a difference by faithfully sticking to their responsibilities and duties when still member of the SPLM/A IO. They sold out the all cause in exchange of political gains. Such a thing is so bad and disappointing.
Then it remains a challenge, which the newly appointed comrades should always remember to fight against by all means necessary.
To sum up my article, comrade chairman has made a right decision in appointing the right men to the right positions. To appoint these great men of our time and movement to undertake the task they are to fulfill in order to make workable contributions needed of each one of them is what must be applauded as I have done in this article. And in a special way I would say once again that congratulations to Hon. Odwar, Tingo and Par for having won the trust of our chairman, and it is their turn to prove it to all that they are not going to let us down like the ones you replaced who went away to where they belong in wild search for greener pastures.
Gatkuot Lok,
Member of The National liberation council, SPLM IO, Deputy Executive Director of Relief Organization for South Sudan, ROSS and a political commentator. He can be reached at: emailing address- lokgatwech@yahoo.com
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