Campaigning for development in South Sudan; what was done?
By Philip Thon Aleu
April 1, 2010 (MALAKAL) – For the first time since 1983, southern Sudan politicians are spending weeks with voters in villages where basic necessities such as water and clinic are luxuries. 10 days to April 11 – 13 polls which are already in balance after SPLM withdrew it candidate for Sudan’s presidency, the undecided, unaware and above all inaccessible voters question whom/or which party that has done what, will win their votes?
For the former rebel , the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), it is a favorite in this year’s elections. However, voters in areas the Sudan Tribune attended elections rallies, from March 22—31, 2010, the politicians have forgotten them but now looking for votes.
In areas where there is no clean drinking water like Ayod, Pigi and Fangak Counties, like is hard and citizens are disappointed with the government.
To residents of Korwai payam in Pigi County, Jonglei State, muddy water stream for multipurpose there, has contributed to human infertility. A container filled with dark liquid, which is said to water fetched from a nearby stream, shocked visitors to Korwai in a rally. The ordinary color of water and it taste are considerably shifted.
The Sudan Tribune witnessed that, given no alternative; cattle drink from the same source as well as is washing of cloths and bathing. “We don’t have borehole,” said a woman fetching water with a broken he said.
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Another woman, speaking as a female representative in an SPLM rally in Korwai, says: “Drinking from dirt water is a cause of infertility here.” Ayod, Fangak and Pigi Counties, formerly known as Greater Fangak, are among the areas in Southern Sudan that people drink from natural rivers.
Korwai Payam is in a constituency where the SPLM legislative candidate Gier Chuang Aluong seeks votes. Mr. Chuang, in a personal initiative, has cleared a road contacting neighboring Atar Chuei Payam with Canal to solve the problem of road network here. He says the construction will continue to Korwai. State Government has committed funds for road constructions to continue to Pam, Fangak County Headquarters, Sudan Tribune confirmed that funds for road work are released.
On the other hand, Jonglei State government pledged drilling boreholes in Korwai Payam and other locations in Greater Fangak as quickly as possible in what could be good elections coincident. Five boreholes are already completed in Ayod in February, 2010 – the first post war clean water site there.
But to the Jonglei State Presidential campaign team for the government of Southern Sudan, the SPLM has made a sufficient commitment to serving the people of southern Sudan but acknowledges that there are crucial areas of need unattended to “because we don’t have enough money.”
“Our resources are being processed and our shares [50% of the resources] decided in Khartoum,” said Deng Alier, Jonglei minister of land & physical infrastructures who is also a member of GoSS presidential campaign team. About oil exploration and channeling to northern Sudan for export he told the audience attending a rally in Wangleel, Fangak County that “that is why the people [of southern Sudan] should for the SPLM so to bring and manage our wealth. How can you fund like project road without money?”
“The SPLM have programs that other parties do not have,” Gen. John Kong Nyoun, the chairperson for the team told the Sudan tribune when asked why he thinks the SPLM is a favorite. The readiness to organize and carryout referendum in the south for self-determination is a factor Gen. Kong says the SPLM have no substitute.
“We [SPLM] the signatory to the CPA with NCP but not the SANU, UDF or independent candidates,” he added.
A United Democratic Front candidate, meanwhile told a rally in Fangak that his party aims at securing southerners an independent nation which, according to him the SPLM is not prepared for. But the SPLM slam the comment saying “we fought for the right of marginalized people in the Sudan but UDF never.”
The main problem politicians will face in this election is not who does what to the people. The real battle is that the illiterate voters are not aware of their candidates’ symbols including the SPLM. Mobility and insecurity are other factors Sudan Tribune established hinder the polls barely days away.
In one case, a rally organized by National Congress Party candidate for Governorship Joseph Duer Jakok in Keer, Ayod County, turned violated on March 23 and a person was killed. On March 23 and 24 when Sudan Tribune reporter was in Ayod Headquarter, a number of people were arrested by police and soldiers. A scramble over control of funds donated by NCP to facilitate the rally is said to have caused the wrangle. A civilian allegedly grabbed a police riffle and open fire on the crowd near the venue of the election rally being addressed by Mr. Duer. The NCP hopeful declined to comment when contacted in Ayod on 24 March.
However, safety during polls remains a threat and a priority to the government of southern Sudan, the acting minister for internal affairs Gier Chuang Aluong said when asked in Atar Chuei on Tuesday March 30.
“We are aware of insecurity and the police will be deployed in all the states,” he said. Running out of time, Mr. Gier says a police plane will be used to dispatch the forces.
In Pigi and Fangak Counties, where disarmament just has began, the elections safety remains an issue of concern. Indeed, not only are voters not sure of voting, the politicians are even not certain on their security despite being highly guided.
In related development, the SPLM decision to withdraw from national presidential race is another complexity to April elections. For voters in here in Malakal, who had decided to vote for SPLM’s Yasir Arman, the move amount to fresh campaign for the party. Questions now hang as who to vote for? Bashir for CPA? What about other NCP candidates who are popular and campaigning for CPA in the South?
(ST)