By Bida Elly David
The SPLM acting secretary general has cautioned parties and citizens over high expectation of government to farm for them instead of working towards executing farming activities themselves through community mobilization to boost and meet their demands when necessary.
He spoke this while comparing South Sudan’s status with China as well as pointing out the roles of political parties towards rendering services to the community at their level.
Speaking to Journalists at the SPLM Secretariat over the weekend, Peter Lam Both, the acting secretary general for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said that political parties must promote farming through community mobilization to boost the activity rather than depending fully on government.
Comparing South Sudan to China, Peter Lam said that what South Sudan learned from China was a grass-root mobilization where political parties create community awareness in regards to crucial farming activities for progress.
“We as parties must mobilize the local community to go for farming and we have instructed all our leaders in the Counties and the Payams and Bomas to encourage our people to go for farming because you don’t expect South Sudan government to be the one farming for you and that is not how it is done. The government might give you a tractor as a cooperative but indeed it is you to go as a local officer of the party to go and encourage the people to farm and work’’
Furthermore, Peter added that Juba has been surrounded by number of idle young men seated under trees literally insulting the government instead of engaging themselves in work.
He challenged young people to be job creators rather than being job seekers reciprocated by time waste under trees after failures.
“If you move around Juba town here you will find that a lot of young people are sitting under trees insulting South Sudan government and the leaders and that is what they do. They are supposed to be engaged in doing work rather than working towards getting something for themselves’’
At the same note, he underscored the presence of foreigners in South Sudan aimed at seeking job employment opportunities to earn money and improve their living standard in their homes.
“Do you think foreigners will be coming to South Sudan if it is really a bad Country?, they come because there is work here which they cannot find in their Countries but our young people want to be politicians starting things from above not knowing that things start from below and you go up’’ He said However, Lam reiterated SPLM’S readiness to compete with anybody during the election unless the international partners decide to leave the citizens to speak for themselves.