Don't quote Dr. Lam out of context; get his message

I think the title of the news that quotes Dr. Lam Akol as opposing immediate secession of South Sudan is misleading and uncontextualized. Let's look critically into the core statement of Dr. Lam: "Under the present weak government in the south, calling for secession would be suicide."

The most important phrase here is: "Under the present weak government in the south" and most important question here is: Why would secession of South Sudan be a suicide under Kiir bad rule? You don't need to be a nuclear scientist to get Dr. Lam's message and the sense of answers he provided as a justification for his concern and warning about the current worrying status quo in the South.

The UN and NGOs working in South Sudan have already voiced similar concerns and warnings. In other words, Dr. Lam is saying that for South Sudan Independence to be viable, we need a change of leadership of the current GoSS. We have got informed that Dr. Lam aspiring through elections to be that leader of change in the GoSS, backed by a Alliance of South Sudan Political Parties. What else do you want to make out of Dr. Lam's sincere statement?

From my point of view, Dr. Lam is damn right because no one can deny that we are seeing many bad things happening in the South now under Kiir leadership. We want an independent South Sudan born as successful state; not as a fail state with failed SPLM Kiir leadership. No more and no way! The people of South Sudan have to wisely choose between: 1) having a an independent "banana state" with wrong leaders sitting on public offices and stealing development money in Juba and the capitals of other corrupt states in the South; or 2) having an independent "rock state" (even if this comes later than early) with right leaders for the job who don't embezzle public fund for development and services and who don't practice tribalism in job offers for qualified citizens of South Sudan.

Don't quote Dr. Lam out of context; his message is prophetic to be ignored; otherwise many Southerners could cry in future saying: Oh if only we could listen to Dr. Lam's warning and heeded to his wise advice not to rush for independence of South Sudan lead by those who wear SPLA uniform illegally when they have been retired already and who act unconstitutionally and are ready to kill their own Southern brothers in order to save Northern political dinosaurs. So, let my people choose wisely or else they continue crying as if they were born to suffer.

Dr. James Okuk is a concerned Southerner, can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.