Dr John Garang

Some members of the public have criticized the government for allegedly deviating from the vision of Dr. John Garang de Mabior of using oil revenue for agriculture and taking town to the people.

They expressed disappointment with some government officials who they said have messed up the country by abandoning the vision of the liberation movement.

Civil society activist Lona Merkaje blamed the SPLM party that guided the country to independence for entertaining politicians who “thought the country would grow automatically.”

“There are people in the current government who did not understand CPA. There are people in the current government who were opposed to the liberation movement,” said Ms. Merkaje.

“..people that the SPLM has entertained, yet they did not necessarily internalize the vision of the liberation.”

Merkaje emphasized on taking town to villages which was the core dream of Dr. John Garang de Mabior saying the current government abandoned it and left the country in limbo of development.

“They have messed up the country. And those who were there during the CPA time, during the liberation time, I am utterly disappointed in how they have conducted themselves after independence.”

“Because they behaved as if the country would happen automatically. And that’s why sometimes you hear me say it’s as if we’ve been put, we as South Sudan have been put on autopilot. And that makes us to continue mourning Dr. Garang until today.”

On his part, Sultan Joseph Mapuor Akech, a resident of Atlabara’s Suk Sita in Juba, urged South Sudanese to desist from power wrangles and embrace national unity.

“In such a day, people should unite among themselves, leave segregation, leave fighting, and leave power wrangles.”

“Let them unite and encourage elections and it’s up to South Sudanese to decide who to elect and sit where. It’s not by force or by barrel of guns.”

“Am urging South Sudanese to unite, leave segregation, leave rebellions, and leave killing because killing is not okay. Avoid looting people’s properties. This is my appeal to South Sudanese.”

Today marks 20 year since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, and the Sudanese government.

The SPLM, through its former leader pledged to rebuild the war-devastated South Sudan using the existing wealth.

In his remarks to the world in Nairobi, Kenya on January 9, 2005, late Dr. John Garang pledged that the SPLM would use wealth in diversity as a source of national cohesion and strength.

He stressed that the SPLM would implement social, political, and economic development strategies and programs that include using oil money to strengthen agriculture as the engine of growth.

The ruling party also pledged to take towns to the people in the countryside through rural small-town planning and rural electrification.

However, eight years after Dr. Garang’s death and two years after the independence, South Sudan descended into a civil war.