By Taban Gabriel
The phone ranged at 6:00 a.m. Central African Time; the room was still gloomy and I settled on to continue with a recap of the sweet sleep that I missed when a far distance gunshot woke me up in the middle of the night.
It was David my hiking mate; he probably might have dreamt about the incarcerated Prophet Abraham Chol’s deserted church, I thought. Because we had a parley on the same in our last stroll
Hell no, I was off beam; he was just informing me about his trip to Magwi that same day and the possibility of him not joining me on Saturday for our routine Jebel Kujur workout. I told him to bring along with him some fresh cassavas which he did.
Before I bid David a secure voyage, I had already tune to my small Frequency Modulation radio which always keep me posted on events that might have transpired at night-time; it was here that I heard the Mayor of Juba City council sought to change names of some residential areas.
The justifications read out on the radio clouded off my mind; and I be like, who are the people really advising his Worship? He has not fully addressed the issues of opening roads in residential areas and hasn’t said anything regarding the abnormal and heavy taxations levied by his institution against the common people?
The obsession by Juba City Council (JCC) authorities to rename some areas and streets in Juba to me as a patriotic Junubi, is a very raw, unreasonable and crude thought.
A naive set of actions to have come out from His Worship Mayor Allah Jabu’s authority.
Let us stop and think for a moment; what benefits are there to come with changing of the names of the areas, when some road within the city are inaccessible?
What are we going to do with the whole loads of history books and thousands of publications from the past with the old names?
Won’t these all just add consignment of puzzlement into the brainpower of our future generations?
In unwind virtual assessment I conducted, people across Juba social brackets, are not in favor and support of changing names of Residential areas.
As a journalist, I chewed the fat with some members of the public and couples of MPs at the National level who all decried the idea by JCC boss though their counter parts at the Council of States gave their support to the scheme
Do we all in our rightful imagination as South Sudanese think that they city council authorities are doing this for the good of the people or the progress of the country? Hell no! They are merely doing it to make them look powerful and influential.
Change of names should not just come naked like that; it should be accompanied by developmental projects. Open roads and name them; build bridges and christen them market with names of your heroes. A one day individual’s verdict should not overshadow the views of millions of South Sudanese. I rest my case!
Taban Gabriel is a freelance journalist; for any query about the article he can be reached on the email address; Gabronn2014@gmail.com