Jonglei Governor, Kuol Manyang Juuk, should immediately resign from his office!!!

By: Daniel Abushery Daniel

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are fool than to open it and remove all doubt,"  said by Mark Twain

Solving problems or conflicts is the most difficult task a human being can deal with, due to varieties of methods and techniques, but the most common procedure is, to identify or diagnose the symptoms before offering any treatment.

In one of my articles- a year ago- which was titled: “SPLA soldiers and the possibility of PTSD?" Many readers had expressed their agreement with the argument I put forth in that article - including some top military personnel about what seemed like an epidemic and how to combat it. But due to the economic some serious considerations faced by the new-born nation, the government of South Sudan (GOSS) simply couldn't afford to build a military type hospital and/or remedy the predicament. 

Make no mistake about it; the dire health situation is not only among the ordinary SPLA soldiers, but worst of all, their generals. Therefore, we shouldn't be caught by surprise, when some of them are acting unconventionally, because we all have all witnessed those many incidents in which some precious innocent civilian lives were lost at the hands of some of those sick generals in many locations in our homeland. 

Never the less, the situation has been all but increasingly and disturbingly on the rise almost on a daily basis. It's well documented that during last year's elections that Unity state Governor, Brig. Gen. Taban Deng Gai insulted and slapped an aid simply because he alerted the governor that his opponent, Mrs. Angelina Teny was ahead in the polls by a huge margin. Of course, nothing was done to the Mr. Gai. Ironically, in the same state - Unity- during the presidential elections campaign, and in a public rally which was supposed to be addressed by then candidate, Lt. Gen. Salva Kirr Mayardit, the state deputy governor slapped the state SPLM secretary general and minister of health, Dr. Joseph Minytueil Wijang, over a simple disagreement. Yet, there was no action taken to protect the integrity of the government and insure civility and respect in the state.

Unfortunately, the scenario is an on-going one, and as usual, nobody has been questioned or required to quit their government position, for engaging in such uncivil and unjust behavior particularly by people in a position of power. Such conduct is alied “abuse of power" and the perpetrators should no long hold any public offices leave alone a governor and deputy governor, respectively.

 Just this week, the most despicable, bizarre, disgusted, and abomination act was committed by one of the most well-known governor in South Sudan, Mr. Kuol Manyang Juuk of Jonglei State. He took the law into his own hands when he maliciously attacked and slapped one of his drivers in the face!!

According to some eye witnesses on the scene- whose names will remain anonymous- governor Juuk was talking with another person in the council hall over some electricity issues. The governor's driver happened to be around when the governor was having that conversation. Then, the victim made a comment: “the electricity technicians have not shown up for duty for the past three days, in protest for their unpaid wages for three months, “he alerted the governor. 

Well, you can only imagine what happened next. In a blink of an eye, governor Kuol didn’t control his emotion. Instead of thanking the driver for his courage to inform him as to why the electricity was out, he instantly slapped the victim, who immediately left the scene in a total chock and disbelieve of the governor's out bust.

That uncivilized conduct is truly unfortunate, especially, when its comes from a high-ranking government official. And As a criminologist, I believe that the law of the land is there to protect the citizens' rights from such unlawful and awful abuse. Therefore, Mr. Kuol Manyang Juuk's criminal conduct shouldn't go unpunished, otherwise, our government, and indeed our party, would very well be sending a wrong message to all those in position of power that it's alright to mistreat the most venerable in our society.

Governor Kuol Manyang Juuk should spend some time in jail, for the crime he committed against an innocent government worker, who was just trying to inform him about the electricity situation, which he should have known in the first place, if he were to be doing his job as well as he should have.

It doesn't matter if one is the president, minister, governor, or otherwise, nobody is above the law, and governor Kuol is not an exemption.

Governor Kuol demonstrated poor and unprofessional behavior by failing to control his emotions, which is the cornerstone of good leadership. He should be ashamed of himself.

Further more, I must confess that at some point in time, am personally was a big fan and supporter of the governor. I particularly admired his braveness and dauntlessness stands during our liberation struggle and above. However, there isn't any justification what so ever for what the governor had done to that innocent citizen.

My advice to governor Kuol is: if you want to restore the trust and the confidence of the public, you must immediately resign from the governorship of the great state of Jonglei, and seek the treatment for anger management. Although that might necessarily erase the incident, but it may reduce the severity of you uncivil and unacceptable behavior. Junub el Sudan is above all.

Shalom.

The author is concern citizen of south Sudan, living in Arizona State (USA), and can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]