The Bible says treat other people with the concern and kindness you would like them to show toward you. Last Friday, authorities in Central Equatoria State forcefully threw out the former Minister of Gender Child and Social Welfare, Rose Lisok Paulino out of the government house

Ms Lisok was forcefully evicted from the house alongside other 10 family members including her aged mother by the state law enforcement agencies.

She had served as the Minister of Agriculture before she was appointed as the Minister of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare in the then 32 States by the former Governor Augustino Jadalla Wani. Ms Lisok, was among the state ministers who were left out during the formation of the state government in 2020.

It is the right of the state government to ensure that its former officials who are no longer serving in the government vacate the houses they are occupying for the newly appointed officials. However, it is also important to ensure that it clears off their benefits for the services they have been providing to the public government.

Like in most countries like the United Kingdom, the former public office-holders such as the Prime Minister, Ministers, and Speaker of the House are entitled to a pension of half the final office holder’s salary on leaving office, regardless of the length of service. Payments are met through the government’s general bank account which should have been the same thing applied to our former government office-holders. Former government officials like Rose Lisok Paulino were supposed to be paid their benefits before evicting them out of the government houses.

Lisok said she was one of the committees who had been demanding the state and national governments to compensate them after they were left out following the dissolution of the 32 states. She said since their removal, the state authorities have been evading them and do not want to pay their packages. Nevertheless, the issues of the benefits might be different as it will take time to be addressed but respect for former government officials is something that does not wait. We must always give respect to our former government officials because these people once they had been public figures that the citizens still owed them respect even though they no longer serve in the government but the service they delivered cannot be forgotten.

No one is above the law, while the former minister Lisok had no right to continue leaving in the government house but her forceful evection from the house last Friday was so disgraceful and also demonstrated a lack of respect for our mothers.

If the government was in need to allocate the house to another official and since it had not cleared the former office-holder, the best thing it should have done was to approve for her some rental assistance to enable her to find a house to rent.

It could have been handled most humanely by listening to her grievances as well.