False Accusations against John Luk Joak by Nuer Community in Uganda

By: Mok Dei Gual, Kampala Uganda

November 24, 2015 (Nyamilepedia) — Before I start to put my comment on what the people used to talks about daily that, the former Minister of Justice John Luk Joak is the one who formulated Transitional Constitution which killed civilians in the country. First of all, I want to let most people know that, the current constitution we have, permitted students to have rights to critics any politician in the country. Students have rights to direct all politicians by criticizing them and that is evidence, the Juba University students used to debates politically.

Today I would like to defend the former Minister of Justice John Luk Joak for a false accusation that the people of South Sudan escalated.  John Luk is a peace-loving person who always wants the people of South Sudan to remain peaceful and he does not instigate violence since he joined politics in the country. People have been telling each other that because he had formulated the current Constitution which has given the president too much power then, that is why civilians were killed by the president Salva Kiir. SPLM/A is the political institutional which does not have links with citizens and it’s where social class have rights to exercising their political rights. 

John Luk is the Minister of Justice that time, and the president appointed committee under his Department to formulate Constitution in the country. He was not given the right to do so by himself. The committees who formulated Constitution were placed under his Ministry of Justice. Those are the people who have written the Constitution and what he did as the Minister of Constitution is to sign it and admitted to the President Kiir. You might get his signature at the end of the book when you get time to see that constitution. He was not allowed to make an article on Constitution, the same as the rest who were there that time. His role as the Minister of Justice during that time was to sign it and submit it to the President Kiir.
Many people were misinformed that John Luk was the one who instigated violence in the country by formulating the Constitution giving all powers to the president even though he did not make even a single article on the Constitution. The constitution was made in time when all politicians were present even Dr. Machar,  the Deputy of the ruling party, and the Vice president of South Sudan was there and aware of all the procedure taken.

The reason why John Luk has chosen to stand neutral in this civil war is to focus on the lasting peace in the country. He and the ”former detainee” agreed before they were released from detention to concentrate on becoming the bridge of peaceful co-existence in South Sudan. Based on the historical background of John Luk, we have learned that he was neutral when disagreement happened between Dr. John and Dr. Machar. He formed ”Joint Committee” to promote dialogue between two leaders in Nairobi in 2002 before Dr. Machar and Dr. John agreed again. He pushed them till the two leaders agreed at the end and struggle continued. John Luk does not like violence. He does not violate the rights of others and that is why he told those who decided to beat the drum of politics together with Dr. Machar to be with him so that, politics is all about group interests. People hate John Luk for nothing and he is well-educated politician who does not hate other politicians. He always believes in his academic documents.

John Luk worked so hard to bring up some of Lou Nuer Youth. 85 percent from Lou Nuer Youth have been working with difference NGOs since 2005. Only 15 percent from Youth were employed by the State government under department of education in Jonglei State. John Luk did his part by employing some of Youth in oil companies when he tried his best by recommending them. At least 25 people were employed there with his recommendation and nobody did what he has done from all Lou Nuer Politicians. He always thinks of his people first before doing something which might be seen badly in his political future. In 2010 when election held in the country, his result of election was rigged at Akobo by Taban Juch and when the people started to fight with each other he advised the people to stop. He respected the result of election and the rights of citizens. Politicians always give other people bad reputations and that is why people started accusing John Luk for nothing. Who was not presence when the president started formulating his Constitution? Why politicians did not resign when they realized that the Constitution created is against their expectations? Why I did not hear that the politicians walked out because of the bad Constitution? For your information, John Luk is a skillful politician and we have the rights to defend him whatsoever the case is we are not fighting to create a Nuer government but a government that will serve all the colorful South Sudanese.

The author is Mok Dei Gual, he is a member of G10 (Former detainees) and a student in Kampala University. He can be reached via gualkuiny@hotmail.com

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