Telling the truth get you in trouble and lying set you free, this is the tragedy of South Sudan

By Lul Gatkuoth Gatluak

Telling the truth in South Sudan is a row to unforgivable punishment. On Sunday evening, a good number of informants in Juba had indicated, the Ex-Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs who is currently serving as a Presidential Advisor on Political Affairs Gen. Kuol Manyang Juuk is facing an arrest warrant in the capital Juba. According to the informants, a huge fleet loaded with Security Forces arrived at his compound wanted to arrest him indefinitely.

If the rest warrant going to be successful, Mr Kuol will be dragged to the Blue House, a torturing facility where political detainees are kept and torture.

The motive behind Mr Kuol arrest is said to have been driven and ignited by a comment he made during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed State government officials on Friday in Bor. In his speech, Kuol confessed the SPLM-led South Sudanese government in which he is a part, has failed to deliver services to the people and added, the government has done nothing among the things that made them take up arms against Khartoum regimes. Although Mr Kuol statement is a naked truth, Salva Kiir’s notorious security agent s rushed to detent him.

In reality, the South Sudan government has done nothing to change the flight of South Sudanese people started in 2005 when the country has gained its self-rule and later became independent ten years ago. Since the government of South Sudan was formed, the government didn’t build schools, it didn’t build roads, it didn’t build houses for people, and it didn’t build hospitals. Salva Kiir’s administration did not have a clear agenda to jumpstart much-needed development.

As we speak, most of the essential government institutions are not carrying out their duties. The government of South Sudan is still in a stage of its evolution and has not matured enough in its daily operations. There are still numerous gaps within public institutions to coordinate projects with their branches. The lack of coordination among the government institutions is caused by the absent of modern technology and Salva Kiir does not bother to supply much needed technological equipment. In this regard, there is no efficient way to handle the job professionally or in a professional manner.

Due to this inefficiency, South Sudan’s development has a long way to go in order to reach its desired destination. Development is a long-term process that requires an appropriate approach and genuine business with joint and synchronized efforts from various angles. It is true that the divergent growth cannot be achieved within one decade; however, main public institutions such as hospitals that are urgently needed would have been built and should be in place by now started in 2005 and present. Gen. Kuol could not be arrested for pinpointing all these facts.

In any nation. Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public government official. It is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else. Telling the truth means that, we want to do the right things and lying could not give us the chance to fix our problems. In that regard, people could not be arrested and punished for telling the truth. It is much better, to tell the truth, and make someone cry than telling a lie to make someone laugh. Mr Kuol has not done anything wrong. He doesn’t deserve to be punished.