The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Yei is appealing to leaders of the new South Sudan government to maintain peace but not positions.
Erkolano Lodu Tombe says the leaders should not concentrate on positions because of money or other benefits, but work according to people’s interest.
‘The priority is to maintain peace and not to maintain positions and political powers; for the government, it should look towards the needs of the people who are fed up with war; everybody even children are singing songs that we are fed up with war, we are fed up with war, we want peace; don’t return us to war; these are the kind and aspiration of the people and the government is to look into the aspiration of people, but not to the positions and not money’ says Bishop Erkolano Lodu.
Erkolano advises the new parties joining the government to aim at serving people.
‘The new parties that are joining should be parties that are aspiring for power in order to serve the people; otherwise, all these things are just power sharing kind of peace may be; what people are hopping for is service of the government to the people; and that service is peace, security, open roads so that they go back to their villages to go and rebuild their broken structures’ says the Bishop.
Last week, South Sudanese from Juba, Torit, Yambio and Rumbek, call for productive unity government.
They say leaders should not be appointed based on inclusivity only, but be reflected on their previous records of performance in public service.
South Sudan has been in civil war for nearly eight years after President Salva Kiir Mayardit sacked his then Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teny.
President Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in 2015 to end the crisis, but the agreement collapsed in 2016.
The South Sudanese hope the new government will not return the country to another suffering.
President Kiir on Saturday witnessed Machar’s swearing in as First Vice-President at the State House in Juba.