SPLM struggles to transform and preach its vision

By Tut Gatwech

September 23, 2007 — It has been almost thirty-six (36) months since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Standing as a political party that has put upon itself to pave the way for change of the status quo in the Sudanese politics and evils that stay with it, the SPLM is, however, still unprepared down the road to preceding important events which would determine which party takes the political power in the country to make changes happen using its own terms.

If I did state ‘important events’ I mean the internal SPLM Second National Convention and the 2009 general elections in the country. And before those two events happen, the SPLM is supposed to transform itself from a guerilla movement into a viable political party capable of challenging other political parties in the country, particularly its peace partner, the National Congress Party, in the upcoming elections.

Currently, the transformation process of the Movement into a political party has been moving unsatisfactorily, if not at a snail’s pace. The mentality of the party’s cadres running its secretariats still reminds people of the Movement’s past guerrilla approach to issues at hand with higher degree of dismissive and aggressive stance.

The Movement still seems to hold on to its belief in swift liberation, after silently planning and then surprising its victims. This was how the liberation war was fought. The attacking commanders silently and in secrecy plan on how to attack a town long before the time of the attack, and then surprise the enemy within days or hours.

This should not be the case now when liberating the people of Sudan from the old political powers or making changes in a non-violent way and using the elections victory as the ladder. Up to this day, the SPLM has not nominated its candidate for presidency against other parties in the country. The long-awaited SPLM Second National Convention in which the current chair could be confirmed or otherwise, has not been called for.

Yes, Comrade Salva Kiir Mayardit was, as I was told, unanimously elected chairman of the Movement by the former SPLM Leadership Council after the tragic and untimely death of the late Chairman, Dr. John Garang. However, his chairmanship needs to be confirmed or replaced, if need be, in a national convention, not by the leadership alone, but also by representatives of the people of the Party from all corners of the country. This will give him the legitimacy, if confirmed, to run as the Party’s presidential candidate in the 2009 elections.

The SPLM, despite the fact that the general elections are only one year away, has not also done any thing or reached the grassroots to educate the masses and preach its vision in Southern Sudan, let alone in the whole of the Sudan. If the Party’s leadership think that one year is far enough and that they would one day surprise the other political parties with vigorous campaign among the people and win the elections, they are making a big mistake. It takes time for a human being to grasp, digest and compare what political parties’ competitors offer or promise him or her in return for a vote in this multi-party nation like Sudan.

Worst of all, the SPLM seems to continue to lose the confidence of the people of Southern Sudan, its supposed strong-hold, on its failed service delivery promises simply because every thing in the projects of service delivery to the people doesn’t take off.

The roads in Juba, which is the capital city of Southern Sudan, are even worse than they were before the CPA, with very rough and bigger holes in the middle of these wild roads now nick-named in Juba as ’Rebecca Nyandeng’s Spot Holes’. Madam Nyandeng, the widow of late Dr. Garang, was the former Minister of Roads and Transport in the Government of Southern Sudan. She was removed recently from her Ministry for incompetence and was re-instated in an advisory post.

Corruption scandals against the Party’s members in the Government of Southern Sudan are the talks of the day. The only main thing that saves the SPLM from completely losing the support of the people is its historical bush war the Movement fought on behalf of the marginalized people of the Sudan for 21-years. However, this is not enough and the SPLM should show to the people that it really fought to make real changes happen and it is now the time to make these changes happen.

The SPLM also seems to shy away from preaching its founding father’s vision of unity of the country and could not find away out on how to go about it. The SPLM has realized that the people of Southern Sudan’s aspirations are different from its vision which favors unity of the country. The National Congress Party (NCP) has also left the SPLM alone to make ‘unity attractive,’ while the SPLM rightly thought it was, to bigger extent, the responsibility of the NCP-led Government of National Unity to do so. This has put the SPLM in a very tricky situation on how to convince the people of Southern Sudan that every thing can be alright in a united Sudan.

If you closely look at the whole SPLM leadership with a microscope, you would see that some members of the leadership do not believe in some ideologies of the vision itself. This may explain why even the Party’s Secretary-General, Honourable Pagan Amum Akech and his poorly organized political cadres do not dare to appear in public and present political lectures on the vision.

The SPLM should, however, stand on its feet and face the remaining part of the interim period. The Movement has already committed itself during the Interim Period to follow its vision, not matter how tricky it is, up to the time the referendum is conducted. Whatever will happen after the referendum, as it is strongly believed that the people of Southern Sudan will definitely vote for separation, will be a matter of reviewing the Party‘s ideology..

It is the analysis of many thinkers that the SPLM with its current vision as a party may gradually continue to lose the support of the people of Southern Sudan, a majority of whom may opt for other separatists parties. Others predict that the SPLM may actually die a natural death after the referendum, and in case the South secedes from the North, unless it reviews and changes some elements of its current ideology to suit the aspirations of the people of Southern Sudan in order to face the other political parties.

The name ‘Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)’ itself will be irrelevant in the South if the South becomes independent. The colours or strips of its current flag will also be irrelevant.

There are already some outstanding political separatists parties in Southern Sudan, which compete neck-to-neck with the SPLM even at this particular time. It will not be surprising if these parties win several seats, even before referendum, in the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly and in the ten States Legislative Assemblies in the upcoming elections of 2009.

*This author is a former member of the SPLA ‘Red Army’ or ‘Child-soldier. He can be reached at: [email protected]