SPLM’s “bad policies” responsible for current problems: Lam Akol

August 1, 2012 (JUBA) – The leader of the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) has accused South Sudan’s ruling party of using “bad policies”, which have reportedly resulted in the current problems facing the South Sudanese people.

Lam Akol, in an interview with Miraya FM, also denied SPLM-DC’s alleged links with the Khartoum regime, and said the “false” allegations are mainly aimed at detracting the attention of citizens from the real problems they are facing as a result of government “failure”.

“Today, half of our population is in need of food aid, our children have no schools to go to, the population is lacking health services, the insecurity is widespread, etc. All this is happening because the SPLM leaders have embezzled our money and the President is incapable of bringing a single culprit to book”, the SPLM-DC leader told Miraya.

“He [the President] wants to make the SPLM-DC the scapegoat for the difficulties our people are facing, but our people are cleverer than he thinks”, he added.

The SPLM-DC leader, in 2011, unsuccessfully bid for South Sudan’s presidency losing to the incumbent, Salva Kiir in an election the former claimed was marred by violence, voter intimidation and rigging.

Lam also accused President Kiir of allegedly threatening not to register his party, arguing that such a move will largely contravene the constitutional provision of a political party’s affairs council as well as the Political Parties Act 2012.

“The SPLM does not respect even its own imposed constitution and laws”, he said, further accusing South Sudan’s ruling party of allegedly working to create a one-party state in the country.

The SPLM-DC leader, during the interview, also accused the President of ignoring a proposal he presented to him on how best the country can resolve the current difficulties facing the population. The proposal on national consensus, he noted, included issues such as unity in diversity, tackling insecurity problems, relations with Sudan, foreign policy perspectives and economic outlook.

“He [the President] was appreciative but later the hawks in his party scuttled this national project. They have nobody but themselves to blame,” he said, but added that the SPLM-DC is ready to cooperate, whenever approached.

On the talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia between Sudan and South Sudan, Lam casts doubt on the possibility of a positive outcome, saying the discussions are between two parties, rather than the two nations.

“The fundamental problem with the talks in Addis is that they are between two parties rather than between the two countries. Both parties have openly said that they would want to effect a regime change in the other’s country,” the SPLM-DC leader said.

“No talks could succeed in such an atmosphere”, he added, while calling upon both the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to include other parties in the talks.

Talks between the two countries, under the facilitation of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) formally end on 2 August. Both nations, according to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), could face non-military sanctions, should they fail to reach a comprehensive agreement on a series of post-session issues.

“We should not be forced to compromise for the fear of sanctions because our interest is paramount and nobody knows it better than ourselves”, said the SPLM-DC leader, when asked about the possibility of South Sudan facing these sanctions.

(ST).