By Adia Jildo
The former body guard of the late Dr. John Garang who led
Southern Sudan (now South Sudan) prior to independence is calling on the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to return to it’s original vision.Gordon Lam, was a bodyguard to the late Dr. John Garang and
he is now the Executive Director of a non-governmental organization known as
Dialogue and Research Initiative. South Sudan will mark 12 years of independece on Sunday
July 9th 2023. Lam said that the liberation party has failed to live up to
expectations. He says it’s important for SPLM to be organizing celebration of
Independence Day every July 9th.
“Failure to celebrate is the failure of the
government of the day. Those who undermine this day actually undermine the
people of South Sudan,” Lam said.
South Sudan has failed to hold Independence
Day for the past 10 years following outbreak of conflict in December 2013.
“The government has to revisit the
vision and mission of SPLM. We fought for 21 years, the government has to
revisit the vision of the SPLM/A,” Lam said.
“The national flag came with a lot of
sacrifice, a lot of blood. The independence was attained with a heavy price,”
he added.
“Dr. Garang had a vision for the
people, he led the moment for the people of South Sudan, the marginalized people
of Sudan to be free and that is why SPLM won people’s hearts because of the
vision,” Lam said.
Lam cautioned the leaders to take into
account the effort of the liberators by celebrating the day and uniting the
people of South Sudan.
“9th July is to remember the day
that gave us freedom, first class citizenship in the world where all South
Sudanese died,” he said, adding this special day celebrated annually is aimed
at uniting South Sudanese.
