Machar warns against sliding into regional politics in the country

June 2, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s Vice President, Riek Machar, has warned against regional based politics, saying this can unfortunately take over the role of political parties and promote tribalism in the young nation.

He said it is the multi-party politics by national parties such as the ruling party, SPLM that can unite the country by providing a national direction and vision and not by groupings into separate regional political blocs which firstly serve regional interests.

It is the national parties, he added, that can make it possible for a quality leader from anywhere in the country ascend to power even if such a leader come from a very small tribe.

Machar made the remarks in a speech which was broadcast on the state-owned South Sudan TV on Saturday while addressing the masses in an occasion organised in memory of a veteran politician, Andrew Wiu, who died last week.

The Vice President who doubles as deputy chairman of the SPLM has been discouraging the convening of regional forums as political blocs for discussing political issues affecting the country.

The regional gatherings were prompted by the internal transformation process within the ruling party in which senior party leaders, including Machar, criticized the party chairman and head of government, Salva Kiir Mayardit, from greater Bahr el Ghazal, for failing to tackle important national issues, calling on him to step down in the upcoming party national convention this year.

Senior politicians and intellectuals from the two defunct greater regions of Equatoria and Bhar el Ghazal in May held their respective regional conferences where they discussed various national issues, including the future leadership of the country, while putting first the interests of their respective regions.

The conferences also discussed the future of the SPLM party’s leadership despite the fact that the participants in those regional gatherings came from different political parties in the country.

Machar said such regional forums that act as political blocs would kill the role of the political parties, promote tribalism and diminish the chances of ascending to power by leaders from smaller tribes.

He encouraged political parties to reflect the national unity by securing membership from all the states and tribes.

In a political party politics, it is your vision and program that matter, not tribe or region, he said, adding that a national party can identify a brilliant leader even from a small tribe to lead in order to direct and implement the party vision country-wide.

But with regionalism, he said, it will be the voice of a dominant tribe in that particular region that will thrive, thus fitting region against region or dominant tribe against dominant tribe.

He further pointed out that the practice of political regionalisation is against the demand for federalism in all its aspects.

(ST)