The Governor of South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria State Louis Lobong Lojore is calling on the displaced members of Magwi county in refugee camps in Uganda to return home and rebuild their lives.
Governor Lobong made the call during a visit to Nimule where he and some ministers accompanied the family of South Sudan’s veteran politician Gen. Joseph Lagu’s family, over the weekend to celebrate the life and achievements of Lagu in his hometown.
Addressing a mammoth crowd who attended the ceremony, Governor Lobong hailed Joseph Lagu for his exemplary service to the nation.
“For you, the community of Madi, those who are here and those who are in diaspora watching, the coming of retired Gen. Joseph Lagu’s home is a challenge, particularly those who are outside South Sudan who continue to spread messages of fear in social media. Can you imagine if an old man comes home what about you? Lagu said he was coming home to retire, what about you in the diaspora? Lobongquestioned.
“I told you that you are in a very beautiful land, a very attractive location geographically attracting so many people. What do you think will happen if some people come here and find an empty land? I understand some people are chasing you by using threats. They want to see you leave the land,” Lobong said. ” I am telling you if someone tells you they liberated this land by fighting for it, ask them what about Joseph Lagu, where was he?”
David Otto Remson, Magwi County Commissioner, explained that many parts of the greater Magwi County remain deserted despite ongoing infrastructural development.
“Please let us come back home,” he pleaded. “I have tried my best to renovate the health centers, and some of the schools but there are no people there now. This is a serious matter.”
Josephine Joseph Lagu, the daughter of the veteran leader and the Minister for Agriculture said the community should take on her father’s values of hard work and education for a prosperous future.
“The message the young people should take from my father Lagu is of how to achieve great things and contribute towards first, the independence of your country, establishing peace, and development, and my father was a man of education,” she said. “The second thing my father was concerned about is hard work.”