Campaign managers are emotionally attached to contestants in election

By Jacob K. Lupai

January 26, 2010 — This is a response to a comment made by James Okuk Solomon on my article, Lam Akol for South Sudan presidency, that appeared in Sudan Tribune (Saturday 23 January 2010). In Southern Sudan Nation website the same comment also appeared but an expanded version where James Okuk Solomon calls himself James Okuk. In one instance James Okuk calls himself Dr James Okuk and in another he does not use his title. In his comment on my article in Sudan Tribune, James Okuk Solomon identifies himself as a concerned Southerner for change. On another occasion he identifies himself as a concerned separatist for the South. This may be to suit different occasions. However, James Okuk seems to lack consistency in addressing or identifying himself. This may give a hint as to what type of individual one is dealing with.

I return to the central theme of my response. James Okuk seems to act like a campaign manager for Lam Akol and campaign managers are at times emotionally attached to contestants they adore. I am alleged to be detached from events on the ground in Southern Sudan because I am perceived as supporting a weak government. I am also advised not to live in the past but to lift myself from it and fit into the present for the sake of prosperity to Southern Sudan. I hope James Okuk read my article, What next for Sudan when NCP and SPLM lose the elections that appeared in Sudan Tribune some time back. The article also appeared in English newspapers in Sudan such as the Citizen and Southern Eye. I would advise James Okuk to read the article. I would also advise James Okuk to read my other article; Organised forces in Southern Sudan need programme for cordial relations, which appeared in Sudan Tribune and the Juba Post. I will not speculate what James Okuk’s own view will be on my articles. I give him the liberty to draw up his own conclusion.

I do not know where James Okuk is based. I only remember seeing the name James Okuk being identified with a PhD student in Nairobi University in articles through the Internet. I am based in Southern Sudan in Juba. For clarification I am not a politician but a civil servant and a wrier for the Juba Post. I am on the ground in Southern Sudan and therefore can observe first hand the efforts being made in development. Naturally more could have been done with availability of resources. In this respect I would again advise James Okuk to read my article, Agriculture in Southern Sudan vital but neglected, that appeared in Gurtong and Sudan Tribune websites, and also in the Juba Post. Without sufficiently digesting my article, Lam Akol for South Sudan presidency, James Okuk concluded by implying that I was supporting a weak government in Southern Sudan when he said, “Don’t waste your time trying to reform the deformed Kiir’s rule ……” However, in the article I said clearly that, “I am in agreement that we need a strong government that is able to take tough decisions”. Does that sound like I am a supporter of a weak government? I understand that doing the work of a campaign manager dictates that one does not let down their adored contestants and therefore one must be seen to be on the top of the game.

Sometimes campaign managers play the game of wishful thinking. This is precisely what James Okuk is doing. In his imagination he convinces himself that Lam Akol is just going to walk through to be the next president of the government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) in the April 2010 elections. James Okuk without demonstrating with evidence imagines that the, “Majority of Southerners shall elect Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin to be the next president of the GoSS so as to complete the good work of self-determination he has started with Hon. Bona Malwal, Dr. Riek Machar. Mr. Peter Abdelrahman Sule…. “. If I may ask when did Lam Akol start the work of self-determination for Southern Sudan? For information the concept of self-determination for Southern Sudan started in the Juba Conference of 1947 probably before Lam Akol was born. In 1965 in the Roundtable Conference in Khartoum to address the so-called Southern problem, it was Aggrey Jaden who articulated the concept of self-determination further and warned that to avoid damages self-determination should be granted to Southern Sudan. Probably Lam Akol might have been still in secondary school while Riek Machar Teny and Peter Abdel Rahman Sule in intermediate school. Bona Malwal by then was the editor-in-chief of the Vigilant newspaper, the mouthpiece of Southern Front. He was a very active member of Southern Front.

It as obvious that James Okuk did not want any reference to the past with regard to Lam Akol for this would tarnish the image of Lam Akol in the eyes of the electorate. James Okuk wants by any means Lam Akol to be the next president of GOSS. This may explain why he pleaded with me saying, “Please brother, lift yourself out of the past so that you could fit into the present for the sake of better future with good governance from good leadership in the South”. According to him Lam Akol will provide that good leadership. What James Okuk fails to understand is that people cannot be separated from their history, which is their past. Lam Akol made history by his disruptive and treacherous behaviour. He stabbed the SPLM in the back in its time of need. If it were not for the survival skills of Dr John Garang the SPLM might have ended up in total disaster as Lam Akol fled to join the NCP.

There would have been nothing called CPA and self-determination. Lam Akol knew what he was doing. Interestingly he believed he was master craftsman that could bring self-determination and independence to the South in a golden plate by cooperating with the NCP. At the same time the NCP had vowed to maintain the unity of Sudan at any cost. James Okuk doesn’t even seem to regret Lam Akol’s treacherous cooperation with the NCP and the mayhem Lam Akol’s attempted coup caused to innocent civilians, men, women, the elderly and children. James Okuk may care to know that after having been ignored by the NCP at the end Lam Akol returned to square one by racing back to rejoin the SPLM when John Garang had already prepared the groundwork for the attainment of the historic CPA.

On my article, Lam Akol for South Sudan presidency, there were 15 comments made in the Sudan Tribune column, comment on this article. Out of the 15 comments made 14 showed that Lam Akol was distrusted to be the president of GOSS with some calling him a traitor, criminal and self-centred. Others said Lam Akol’s home is the North with yet others predicting he will not win in the election. In the comments made so far James Okuk is the only one standing with Lam Akol. Although it may not be a representative sample about 93 per cent of commentators rejected Lam Akol to be president of GOSS. If this is also the trend on the ground it must be worrying to James Okuk and the Lam Akol’s camp.

By now James Okuk should have read the article, The Satanic Verses of Dr Lam Akol, by Santino Fardol in Sudan Tribune (Sunday 24 January 2010). In order to gain independence James Okuk is urging people that, “Dr Lam Akol Ajawin should be voted in as the next president of the GoSS for a serious preparation of South Sudan for inevitable Independence in 2011”. In the meeting of southern Sudanese political leaders in Kenana Sugar Industrial Complex among the lead personalities was Lam Akol. The meeting took a national unity stand. I think urging people to vote for Lam Akol for inevitable independence is premature. When Lam Akol took a national unity stand in the meeting in Kenana, how easily will it be possible for him to work for independence to the South against what he had pledged to stand for? By virtue of the meeting in Kenana Lam Akol has a unionist tendency while James Okuk as we know is a concerned separatist. One may wonder, what is the secret between a unionist and a separatist teaming up together? However, self-interest may transcend political divide.

According to Lam Akol when he was asked about his preference in the referendum his answer was that, “my position will be dictated by the circumstances on the round”. This is a clever way of saying look I am a unionist but I will respect the voice of the people. Ismail el Azhari, the first Sudanese prime minister was a unionist. He had wanted unity between Egypt and Sudan. However, when the voice of Sudanese people rejected unity with Egypt, El Azhari went along with the voice of the people and abandoned his unionist inclination to Egypt. Lam Akol is not a separatist as James Okuk would like people to believe. He, Lam Akol, will first look at people and see how they are dancing and then join them.

Lam Akol will have an uphill struggle to be elected the first president of GOSS. For him to win James Okuk should have been by now on the ground in Southern Sudan campaigning for Lam Akol. The Internet is not the appropriate medium to use for campaigning. In cities and towns in Southern Sudan about 1 or less than one per cent of the population may have access to the Internet. The rural areas hardly have Internet facilities and besides the majority of people are illiterate. Except for insecurity the majority of people live in the rural areas. Lam Akol may also need to be on the ground in Southern Sudan campaigning for any remote chance to win in the election.

The claim that James Wani Igga, Dr Riek Machar Teny and Abdel Aziz Adam Hilu are completely sick and tired of Kiir’s incompetent leadership and are deliberately inactive is interesting. One is wondering why it is difficult for such senior SPLM members not to challenge for the presidency of GOSS as independent candidates. Two SPLM members have already done so for the governorship of Central Equatoia and Unity State respectively. If James Wani Igga is very weak as James Okuk alleges what about Dr Riek Machar Teny. Couldn’t he take up the challenge? For Abdel Aziz Adam Hilu he may not be eligible to contest for the presidency of GOSS because he is geographically in the North. At any rate any eligible southerner can contest. Probably the lack of confidence could have played a part in none coming forward to challenge for the presidency of GOSS.

In conclusion one thing in an election is for the contestant to have a clean record. People are remembered and appreciated the more for their past good record than what they are going to do which is yet to be seen. So we cannot divorce the present from the past. The past is like a mirror to show how to find a better way forward.

The author can be reached at [email protected]