The ungainly repeat of 1991

By Abraham A. Awolich

June 10, 2009 — First I would like to apologize for writing another superfluous piece on Dr. Akol’s recent announcement of the formation of SPLM-DC. However, it is worthy to engage the Dr. on his proposals and perceptions of the South Sudanese populace. First the question that is worth asking in the preface of this subject is how many times Dr. Akol has been divorced? I am by no means his autobiographer but one can assume that he might have been divorced more than once just by reading his political life tales. Dr. Akol is one of the most intelligent characters in the politics of Southern Sudanese, yet the most confused of them all. What unbecoming his character and political marriages have been. In this piece, I am by no means an expert on the political life of Dr. Akol but I am going to engage in this subject solely based on the recent formation of the SPLM-DC and the 1991 experiences and the proposals that Dr. Akol has put forward. Furthermore, it is worth mentioning in the fore that I am a member of the SPLM party without the hyphen (DC) and as such, my comments must be based on that point of view.

What struck me to comment on this situation is the remarkable audacity of Dr. Akol and the barefaced nature of his character to repeat the history of 1991. By no means this did not come as a bombshell to many Southerners given the series of events that unfolded which led to his unseating from his FM position, yet some of us had at least hoped that Dr. Akol would be mortified to repeat the history of 1991. Well, to our surprise, he did. Given that Dr. Akol has done it again, was he justified? Well, it depends who you talk to, but my own assessment to be fair to Dr. Akol is that he is justified to form his own party because he badly wants to be a leader and the current structure of the SPLM does not provide an immediate prospect for the raring to go like Dr. Akol. Hence, as much as one would not want to give him that, it is fair for him to form his party. What is disturbing is the timing, his supporters and his proposals.

Before I go deeper into my argument, it is imperative to refresh our memories of the reasons why Dr. Akol instigated the split in the movement in 1991. Dr. Akol defected from the movement almost 18 years citing undemocratic nature of Dr. Garang, abuse of human rights, and many other points not worth mentioning. The coup took place on August 28th 1991 a day that has come to represent the darkest part of our history. As Dr. Nyaba (1997) puts it “August 28 will go down in the history of the Southern Sudan as the most important single day when the people’s aspirations for freedom and justice suffered a serious blow at the hands of their own sons.” Again, it is not anyone’s right judge others’ intentions but it is people’s right to judge the actions of others that affect them.

The reason why Southerners cannot forgive and forget that day is because Dr. Akol and his co-hoards allied themselves with the enemy against which the movement they attempted to destroy was fighting. Immediately after the split, the duo went on to commit abuses of unimaginable enormity and violated any human rights ever written. What is more is that Dr. Akol later revealed his true intent to become a leader at any cost. This situation was explained when Dr. Akol broke away again from Dr. Machar to form his own faction accusing Dr. Machar of lacking intelligence to lead and questioning his commitment. This move led to the breakdown of his supposedly democratic movement into seven factions of which all their leaders died subsequently with the exception of Dr. Akol and Dr. Machar. It is public knowledge that indeed it was Dr. Akol not Dr. Machar who orchestrated the split that led to the death of millions of our citizens and the destruction of our wealth and most importantly, it almost led to the obliteration of our cause.

Needless to remind anyone that Dr. Akol’s call for democracy in 1991 ended up disastrous and led to many scars in our society that no medicines could heal. He failed despondently to practice democracy; a cause that was so important to him to a point of joining the enemy of his people. He did not observe any human rights laws; instead, he had a shared vision with the enemy that was orchestrating the annihilation of his people with him as a cheerleader to that effect. Dr. Akol’s choice of actions left a lot to be desired of his intellect and patriotism. All the events that pursued the 1991 split, spell with capital letters Dr. Akol’s myopic perception of himself and reality. His incompetency, shortsighted political ambitions, and his conniving opportunistic character, were all revealed in 1991.

That was only his recent past; now let’s look at Akol’s behaviors after the signing of the CPA. In this section I would like to confess that I did not agree with two things in the CPA. I did not agree with the interim period. I wanted the SPLM to negotiate an outright independence of the South and go figure, I do not buy this notion of United Secular Sudan because it is unrealistic and unachievable even with John Garang present. I also did not agree with the SPLM’s rush to take the position of foreign ministry because this is most useless ministry to Southerners in the whole Government of National Unity. The two years leading to the signing of the CPA were exciting movements for the people of Southern Sudan because of the return of Dr. Machar and Dr. Akol. Our people are gracious and forgiving. In fact I had forgiven both of them when they returned to the South and joined in the negotiation of the CPA. I was also thankful to the leadership of the SPLM/A for allowing peaceful return of Dr. Machar and Dr. Akol although begrudgingly. I was proud as a Southerner to see the political maturity in our leadership. What is more is that both Dr. Akol and Dr. Machar were readmitted into the ranks and files of the SPLM. President Kiir did not have a second thought to appoint Dr. Akol as Foreign Minister and the SPLM did not hesitate to make Dr. Machar Vice President. Everything was good pre and immediately after CPA because Dr. Akol appeared to have embraced his new position and recommitted his loyalty to the SPLM once more.

To paraphrase President Obama during his presidential campaign; he told the crowd that you can’t put the same old folks back in office and expect different results. You can’t put Dr. Akol in your ranks and files and expect different results. Dr. Akol did exactly what he is good at and has always done. He disrespected his bosses, betrayed his party and joined the enemy. While Foreign Minister, Dr. Akol did a good job as a Sudanese citizen representing his government, however, he did a terrible job as a Southerner and a member of the SPLM representing everything that was opposite of our wishes and desires. He grew closer to president Bashir more than with President Kiir who appointed him in the first place. Southerners grew weary and impatient and the president did the right thing to remove him before he caused more damage to our image. What is clear is that Dr. Akol is not a good follower, he would rather lead, but as a leader he is worst than being a follower. Leaders keep their promises, Dr. Akol never does and you could not trust to stick to the cause he calls you to join. Leaders keep their allegiances, he never does, leaders care about the welfare and the cause of their people and this is not Dr. Akol’s resume. Leaders are visionaries and rational and analytical in their decisions, I question the analytical skills of Dr. Akol though he was a mathematician. Leaders are those that could die for what they believe in, it is not easy to judge Akol on his record because he never believes in anything long enough to be judged on. There he goes again disagreeing with his superiors and making statements to try and project himself as the one sent to redeem us. On his record, I would rather be led and saved by a Chimpanzee.

In a democracy, which appears to be the route Southern Sudan is taking, anybody is welcome to form a party provided that it stands for something. The problem is, Akol never stands for anything and it is hard to comprehend how he gets people to listen to him. As I alluded to it in the introduction, Dr. Akol is entitled to form a new party. However, his records tell a scary story. While Dr. Akol was in Khartoum was a member of National Congress Party and he later defected and joined a newly formed Justice Party in 2002 which he later left to join the SPLM again. Prior to joining the NCP, he was the leader of SPLM-United; a group he formed after his group splintered from SPLM-Nassir faction and now he is the head of the newly formed SPLM-DC. The question any rational being can ask is why Dr. Akol always unsatisfied? Why does he keep changing parties? What does he really want that everyone doesn’t seem to understand?

The problem with his new party has something to do with his proposals and his criticisms for the SPLM. What is disconcerting to many Southerners is his relationship with President Bashir and how close he has become with the NCP. The announcement of SPLM-DC reminiscent of SPLM-United is raising fears that Akol is once more on to undo the achievements of our people in the CPA. How dare! Akol referring to the reasons why he left the SPLM claims that “there is no organizational and political work in the party. No specialized position papers on specific issues are prepared by the party and no political rallies are held regularly even in the Capital of Southern Sudan, Juba. Instead, the party has turned to unnecessary internal squabbles and exclusive politics by targeting some of its senior members and singling them out for character assassination.” What Dr. Akol failed to mention here is his position in the party. Did Dr. Akol wrote any position papers and had them rejected? What exactly did he do as a member of political bureau? These are lame reasons for a sound politician and a true patriot to leave his party, so one cannot help but to think that Akol has something cooking in Khartoum.

The claim that there were squabbles within the party is of course nonsense because every party has squabbles. Dr. Akol every single time he is confronted or failed to get higher position, he either defects or quits and that is what happened when he left the SPLM (1991), that’s what he did when he destroyed the Nasir faction to form SPLM-United and that is what happened when he left the NCP and now SPLM (2009). Akol is obviously a coward and not a fighter because fighters don’t quit they fight and as such, Akol’s claims are baseless. I can guarantee you if someone else is elected head of SPLM-DC, Akol will quit and forms another party because the guy just cannot follow neither can he lead.

Dr. Akol also claims that SPLM has failed to provide the basic functions of any government such as security and basic living services. That is true to some extent, but Dr. Akol is part and parcel of the same government. What Dr. Akol failed to mention is the fact that roads now open for most parts, state governments have been formed, institutions are being put in place, and services are being delivered in areas of education and health services. Ironically, it is the NCP which Dr. Akol seems to credit that is impeding the progress in the South by failing to conduct the census with transparency and sincerity and failing to transfer the South’s share of revenues on time. It is the NCP that is refusing to demarcate the border and refused to accept the findings of ABC. It is the NCP that sends militias to Malakal and arming Militias in Jonglei and Upper to cause instability.

The most disturbing section of Dr. Akol’s press release statement was his claim that he defected to save the SPLM from itself and save the South from SPLM. This is a ridiculous blander and to borrow his words, it is an intellectual bankruptcy. These claims were made in 1991 and we all know the results. I am ashamed of these thoughts, but I think Dr. Akol is a fool for he doesn’t read the public opinion carefully. When was the last time Dr. Akol made headlines doing something good? The last time I checked was that Dr. Akol was betraying the Southerners by aligning himself with Bashir which led to his removal. If Dr. Akol is not a fool, he should have recognized that he is only known as a traitor in the South. In fact Salva Kiir was having difficulty explaining his reasons for appointing Dr. Akol as a Foreign Minister because people still think that he is a traitor. Given this image, how could Akol draw any following among Southerners? When was the last time Akol contributed a positive or useful idea?

Dr. Akol should be very careful not to insult the collective intelligence and conscience of our people. He cannot assume to be crowned as the liberator and savior of the South and that all of a sudden people have forgotten his horrendous actions of 1991 and as recently as 2008 as a foreign minister. He also needs to understand that the South is not a prostitute to be bought and sold at any brothel as one wishes. Unashamedly, Dr. Akol seems to take for granted the graciousness and generosity of our people to forgive those who wronged them. The hard reality is that the people cannot forgive you twice for the same sin even God would have difficulty justifying that. I am not a prophet of doom but I can with absolute certainty predict that Dr. Akol’s move is a political suicide and his political future and prospect in the South has greatly been diminished. His new proposals are perplexing to an intellectual mind and uncomfortably unbecoming of someone who calls himself a genius and a liberator.

The author is based in the USA. He can be reached at [email protected]