Mabior Garang: It is Not Too Late to Enrol for a Degree

(Opinion | Garang Abraham) – Many South Sudanese netizens are reluctant to openly question Mabior Garang or to engage honestly in the ongoing debate about whether a PhD, or education more broadly, matters in politics.

This fear is real. People worry about losing social standing, political favour, or even their jobs. Yet a nation cannot grow when truth is silenced by fear. Silence does not serve South Sudan.

This discussion should not be reduced to PhDs alone. It is about education in its broader and more practical sense. While one does not need to be academically perfect to participate in politics, a leader entrusted with managing a public institution must have basic education or professional training relevant to the sector they oversee.

Education sharpens judgement. It equips leaders to understand policy, analyse institutions, select competent technical teams, and engage confidently with experts and national, regional, and international partners. These are not privileges reserved for elites; they are basic requirements of modern governance.

If Mabior Garang were not the son of Dr John Garang, would he realistically have been appointed to lead one of South Sudan’s most strategic and globally sensitive ministries – Environment and Forestry – without a basic degree in any related field?

This ministry sits at the intersection of climate change, environmental protection, oil pollution, global climate finance and international environmental law. It is not a ceremonial docket. It demands technical grounding alongside political legitimacy.

That said, the absence of a relevant degree does not automatically mean Mabior will fail. If he is open minded, disciplined, and willing to learn, the technical experts within the ministry can support his success. However, leadership requires humility, the ability to acknowledge gaps, and a deliberate effort to close them.

Unfortunately, Mabior’s social media interventions on this matter have not strengthened his position. His attempts to defend himself, and even to apologise, have often deepened public concern. Rather than clarifying his argument, his responses have appeared scattered and dismissive of education itself.

Many South Sudanese online have echoed this view, arguing that education is irrelevant to leadership. Others have rightly pushed back, reminding us that competence, preparation, and learning matter, especially in highly technical sectors. What this debate has exposed is a worrying trend: the normalisation of intellectual insecurity disguised as political courage.

It is true that formal education alone does not make a good leader. History shows that character, vision, and integrity matter deeply. However, there are institutions where education is not optional; it is essential.

Ministries responsible for health, environment, engineering, technology, and finance require informed leadership to avoid costly and irreversible policy failures. Ignorance in these sectors is not harmless; it is expensive.

If I were Mabior Garang, I would enrol for an undergraduate degree without hesitation and ask myself an honest question: if a PhD were truly meaningless, why would his father, our respected liberator, Dr John Garang, have spent years studying abroad to earn one?

Dr Garang understood that knowledge strengthens leadership; it does not weaken it. His academic grounding shaped his political clarity, sharpened his strategic thinking, and earned him global respect.

South Sudan deserves leaders who are confident enough to learn, humble enough to grow, and prepared enough to govern.

Instead of spending excessive time on social media defending weak arguments, Mabior should focus on tangible work that will define both his ministry and his political future.

Otherwise, his career risks becoming stalled and landlocked, much like Dr John Garang’s mausoleum, locked day and night, neglected, with broken tiles left unrepaired despite its national significance.

As Minister of Environment and Forestry, Mabior Garang should prioritise three clear actions.

First, he must establish a strong legal and institutional foundation by revising and passing a new Environment Act, and by engaging the Ministry of Petroleum to release the national environmental audit, particularly the findings on legacy oil pollution, in order to restore accountability and public trust.

Second, he should protect and restore critical ecosystems and public spaces, especially the Sudd Wetlands, flood-prone regions, and green spaces in Juba, through science based policies that move South Sudan from reactive crisis management to long-term climate resilience.

Third, he must invest in knowledge and partnerships by restoring UNEP’s full engagement in the country, an engagement that was discontinued years ago, and by initiating a comprehensive national survey of natural resources and heritage to guide sustainable development, conservation, and future planning.

Leadership is not about rejecting education to appear relatable. It is about embracing learning to become effective. It is not too late for Mabior Garang to choose growth over defensiveness and legacy over noise.

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Garang Abraham is a South Sudanese journalist and communication and public relations professional. His work has appeared on Eye Radio, Nation Media Group, The Continent, and the BBC, among others.

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