In Juba downtown, opposite the Bari Cultural Center, there is a poor vendor who sells some things. I guess he does not make a lot of earnings on that road, but he always plays records of speeches by the unforgettable, desired leader of the SPLM\/A, Dr. John Garang De Mabior, during the liberation struggle. The man does not play any music except revolutionary songs of SPLM\/A and Emmanuel Kembe, most especially \u201cSABA JA SHEMISH TALA KALAS.\u201d This man is a revolutionist who has hope for a better South Sudan.<\/p>\n
One day on that side, I heard the recorded speech of Dr. John. I stopped driving and heard the speech; in two minutes, it was the end of that speech, and another speech started. I decided to hear it all, which lasted almost seventeen minutes.<\/p>\n
In that speech, I heard Dr. John Garang saying,<\/p>\n
\u201cA new phase of transforming the guns and the bullets\u2014that is military power into political power and using the political power to achieve rapid socio-economic development\u2014because there is no meaning of revolution unless it makes our people happy, unless the masses of our people have become prosperous\u2014the go-ahead, they advance, they get chances, they get food, they get clean drinking water, they get education, they get health services, unless we provide these to our people, unless the revolution provides these to our people, then the people then prefer the government of INF that provides salt to the government of SPLA that does not provide salt. This is simple arithmetic. If the SPLA cannot deliver anything, and we shout revolution, and the cattle of the people are not vaccinated, their children are not vaccinated, there is nothing to eat, there are no necessities of life, mafi gumash fi suk, mafi ibra, mafi mus, the very minimum necessities are not available, then the people will drive us into the sea; even though there is no sea here, they will reach to find a sea to drive us. Because we don\u2019t have any other choice.<\/p>\n
See, the old Sudan has really been based on fiction, on deception. Hakuma is considered to be something that has a heap of resources, a heap of money\u2014endu gurush, endu emkaniyat\u2014then people want to loot, people awzine ya shillu, ya shillu, ya shillu min El Hakuma, and this is\u2014there is a contradiction here. See, Hakuma, there is no Hakuma al endu shaab, shaab ma endu hajat, shaab fegirra. Hakuma ma mumkin ya kun endu hajat, because where else will it come from? It is from the people; it is from production, min intaj, and El Hakuma belga resources, because Hakuma in itself has nothing. Wenu Hakuma, Hakuma de shunu? What is it, yaani? What is it? There is nothing; there is a government\u2014a people that is poor has a poor government, a people that is weak has a weak government; these are natural facts. Because where else do things fall from? Fa illa annas yentij, then they will have a strong government; it is not the other way round.<\/p>\n
Our concept of government has been a powerful thing; and endu hajat and people want to benefit from it, it should be the other way round. It is the people who are very productive in order to make their government strong; there is no other way.<\/p>\n
And this is the problem that is hurting many underdeveloped countries because of the act of administration\u2014Al Idara. The republican administration has become the biggest industry in many African countries, including Sudan. It observed the very big passion of the GDP.<\/p>\n
Administration should facilitate production, should provide a conducive atmosphere, and should provide a situation for production. Fa the New Sudan, beginning with the movement now, because there is no fasil between the movement and New Sudan. It is the movement that merges itself into the New Sudan. Fa mafi zaman tani, where we will say nahnu khalas wasalna New Sudan. The movement develops into New Sudan; we are actually in New Sudan, mafi zaman tani biyegi, so the New Sudan and the movement now must be based on concrete production or real production. We must produce things; otherwise, we will not have a future.<\/p>\n
Now, by saying that, let us start with nothing and get a lot; this can be done. Some of these places are very productive. Khor chum is productive, Maruwa is productive, and the area between Raat and Pachalla is very productive. This is alluvial soil from the Buma Plateau.<\/p>\n
Relief yau azu Karab haraka min intaj, min mahalat ta lajiine, we will organise our people, each zol awis akil bitaa UN bitaa relief yemshi yakun refugee fi Kenya aw fi Uganda aw fi ayi doula wa relief yalgahu hinak fi kharij, zol yagout fi manatik muharrara yezra. Muwatinin bitana yezra, wa muwatinin yau bi weddi akil le gesh, wa nihna nagul le khawajat janjaro bitak de waskhan yella fut mao, we are going to do this.<\/p>\n
The only way we can have something is to be strong, and from that strength, we will create emkaniyat bitana; mafi haja bega min sama. When we liberate the country tomorrow, we have to work; lazim na ishtakal ashan nalga hajat. Nothing is going to come free, and we are going to dismiss these relief people because gait bi karab beled bitana, bi yaamul nas kaslanin, gal relief begi, wa kan relief ma ja yajamana, biga nakulu shunu? So, we must depend on ourselves; this is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n
This speech was delivered almost thirty years ago but is still worth hearing at this special time. This speech was delivered by almost all high-ranking officers at that time; some of them might be alive and active in government now. I encourage them to visit their archives and listen to such leadership and charisma.<\/p>\n
Dr. John spoke in the first place about the transformation of military power, talent, leadership, ethics, culture, norms, and tradition into political power, leadership, skills, talent, ethics, culture, norms, and tradition for the aim of achieving socio-economic stability, development, prosperity, resilience, and sustainable happiness of South Sudanese communities as united, harmonious, and existing together in peace and freedom of expression and mobility.<\/p>\n
Dr. John said unless they provide these objectives of transformation and lead to the happiness and prosperity of the people, there is no meaning for the revolution! What is the serious meaning of revolution?<\/p>\n
Dr. John mentioned necessities for people and their property as basic services that must be provided by the government of the SPLA. He mentioned a few, such as vaccination for children and cattle (livestock), food (affordable market and productivity inputs), clean drinking water in each household indoors, not disturbing Habbash’s sleep at 4:00 am, and a new price. Objective education with the aim of producing professionals, scientists, technologists, and researchers. Health services, where South Sudan doesn\u2019t die from simple diseases, lack professional medical doctors, equipment, electricity, and salaries.<\/p>\n
Dr. John contrasted the INF (Islamic National Front) government and the SPLA\u2019s (Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Army) one and warned that if the SPLA\u2019s government does not provide better, then the people will make a preference and turn to the sea, which the people can find. He warned his comrades that they don\u2019t really have a choice unless they provide for the people. Dr. Garang described that there is no government when her citizens don\u2019t produce and highlighted that poor people have poor government and weak people have weak government, calling it a natural fact.<\/p>\n
Dr. John spoke of the misconception of government, as people in the Sudan also have the same concept of government. For him, government is nothing but a trustee, acting on behalf of and for the benefit of the population, not individual elites.<\/p>\n
The misconception, according to Dr. Garang, is that people think a government is an institution with a lot of resources for nobody, and they think they have the right to take those resources and enrich themselves. To Dr. Garang, it is the other way round, where the people are encouraged to produce, rather than taking from the little provided.<\/p>\n
Dr. John emphasises productivity; the government must produce. He mentioned “”Idara”\u2014administration! For Dr. Garang, administration is the core foundation of production. He mentioned that administration in most underdeveloped countries faces challenges in moving steps ahead toward global goals for sustainable economic stability resulting from productivity and good achievements of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).<\/p>\n
For Dr. Garang, gross domestic product (GDP) is the total market value of all final goods and services produced within the country during a specific time, not intermediate parts used to make them. It is the total monetary worth of an economy. Changes in GDP show whether an economy is growing or shrinking. Economists calculate GDP using four main spending parts:<\/p>\n
To achieve good economic practice and a worthy Gross Domestic Product, the government has to calculate Net Exports: Total exports minus total imports. If the result is zero, then the economy of the country has not gone anywhere better. It means what you produce, you consume. If the result shows that imports exceed exports, it means that the country is economically doing badly. If the result shows that exports exceed imports, the economy is doing great.<\/p>\n
Dr. Garang\u2019s idea of productivity is to produce more and make exports out of the excess products. I guess Dr. John was not focusing on oil production and export by saying, “We must produce things; otherwise, we will not have a future. Now, by saying that, let us start with nothing and get a lot; this can be done. Mentioning places like Khor Chum, Maruwa, Raat, and Pachala as rich soil with a lot of streams, Dr. Garang meant \u201cagriculture” as being the main production of the SPLA Government. This economic activity will provide for households, and the excess will go to markets. These areas Garang mentioned thirty years ago are now battlefields\u2014the same areas he was talking of as guns and bullets (the military power) to be transformed into political power to achieve socio-economic development rapidly.<\/p>\n
Today, after thirty years of this wonderful, logical, powerful, educative, and above all political-motivated speech and within the manifesto, agenda, objective, mission and vision of the present SPLM party, it is high time that the party should revise her shelves and get this speech studied, research the points mentioned, and infer and contrast with the current situation that the party is in, while proudly claiming to be ready for elections in December 2026.<\/p>\n
It is still a choice for our political party to make amendments and reframe from hurting and harming her voters. If you need equity, come with equity. This is a principle of justice, so do justice, and you will be judged justly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Simon Yokwe Keri<\/em><\/p>\n Juba, Republic of South Sudan<\/em><\/p>\n johnyokwe@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Juba downtown, opposite the Bari Cultural Center, there is a poor vendor who sells some things. I guess he does not make a lot of earnings on that road, but he always plays records of speeches by the unforgettable, desired leader of the SPLM\/A, Dr. John Garang De Mabior,[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,90,80,87,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columnists","category-commentary","category-national","category-oped","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/By-John-Simon-Yokwe-Keri.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47712"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47723,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47712\/revisions\/47723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}