SPLM Leadership meddling in Students’ Politics!
By Justin Ambago Ramba, MD.
“March 9, 2008 (JUBA) — The Chairman of SPLM, Salva Kiir Mayardit, on February 6, ordered all members of African National Front (ANF) student’s movement in Sudanese Universities to disband and immediately join SPLM Students League.” From Sudan Tribune.
When I read the above news I became completely perplexed as to what the SPLM leadership is up to. Salva Kiir is indeed the First Vice President of the Sudan and he is as well the President of South Sudan and also he is the Chairman of the SPLM, plus of course he is a Twic Prince if not the Paramount Chief by now, but what does all these got to do with the African National Front (A.N.F). His Excellency has never had the slightest link with ANF at any stage of his political evolution, and jumping into such dreadful conclusion of scrubbing the Front from the Sudanese Students’ Political Forum is indeed of concern. ANF is a political front which incorporates students of various political denominations with the African Identity as a commonality though almost all the members are students from South Sudan. If it so happened that some SPLM supporters used the ANF to project their views in the Universities and specially the university of Khartoum, this does not in anyway make ANF to become synonymous with SPLM and nor does that give the SPLM Chairman the right to decide the fate of this organization which he himself is not even a honorary member to start with.
SPLM is spelt SPLM and not ANF, and if the former wants to surface under the banner of the SPLM Student’s League or call it whatsoever, then the way to that does not in any way pass through ANF. We should all know that students’ politics deserves to flourish in a completely democratic environment away from such political pollutants like Salva Kiir and his followers. After all these students are aware of the existence of the SPLM Students League, but it is their choice to remain under ANF for reasons not seen by the Cdr. But from the first glance obviously ANF is less corrupt than SPLM, and may be this is a reason why the students would be in ANF rather than SPLM, this is undisputable as no one ever wants to be identified with criminals and looters of the public funds.
The ANF has come a long way and it represents one of the oldest symbols of Sudanese students’ politics in operation up till now. It has its own constitution which does not represent SLM in any way. Many ANF former members did physically join the SPLM/A during the struggle unfortunately many lost their lives either to the enemy , but mostly in the hands of fellow southerners in the bush, and I don’t think that the survivors like Dr Lam Akol and Dr Riak Machar would like their history in the students politics erased by destroying the very organ that offered them the by then only forum to develop their political views in line with their aspirations, even though they are now indeed top SPLM/A leaders.
It is of course true as well that many people did indeed support the SPLA/M from within throughout the 21 years of the struggle and many lost their lives, livelihoods and properties to the notorious NIF security machinery because of being SPLA/M sympathizers. Almost every south Sudanese was considered a fifth column by the NIF organs even if thy pronounced or declared their affiliation to the NIF and its different organs and Para-military groups, because many southerners would join the government one minute and dash back to the bush the next minute. That was before the CPA, but if you see where we find ourselves now, you will understand and appreciated the south Sudanese’s source of frustration as the ones hailed liberators of the people have eventually turned into evil perpetuators of terror, corruption, deception, in short operationally invalid.
At this stage of our struggle all kinds’ coercions should be discouraged. Our young people deserve to be respected and their choices respected as well in their capacities as university students. No military commander should dare assume that university students can ever be ordered like herds of goats into following a system which everybody knows is badly in need of overhauling or otherwise it may face the ultimate fate collapse like all the other totalitarian organizations in the history of mankind.
My advice to those who find it hard to tolerate multi party politics is that the time for their outdated vision has long been gone, and let the SPLM leadership establish their students Leagues all over the world and let them train their new generation the crafts of corruption and democracy allows that, but they should no temper with other students who want to be under ANF, SOSSA, JUSSA etc including all the rainbow colours found in the Sudanese politics. We are indeed a free people and we deserve respect and not orders. Not even the oil money which SPLM use to buy and sell supporters is enough to erode peoples political believes, otherwise if it were to work that way, then the NIF would have had it all, long time back . Please SPLM leave the children alone.
The author of this article is a south Sudanese doctor living in the UK and can be reached at: justinramba@doctors .org.uk