The 8th Anniversary of Dr Garang: A reflection on the SPLM
By Luka Biong Deng
August 1, 2013 – The 30th July 2013 marks eight years since the untimely and great loss of the former Chairman of the SPLM, Dr John Garang de Mabiour. During the 50th anniversary of the African Union, Dr Garang was among the few leaders honoured as those who championed the Pan-Africanism. His vision of New Sudan is well rooted in his conviction of Pan-Africansim as a way to transform and forge Sudan within the African orbit rather than getting it astray into Islamic and Arab orbits. The people of South Sudan and Sudan will always feel very proud that the vision with which they struggle to transform Sudan has been honoured in the personality of their Great Leader. Garang shall remain one of the rare visionary politicians not only in South Sudan and Sudan but indeed in the entire continent. In particular, the people of South Sudan and the marginalized people of Sudan will always keep high the Vision of New Sudan as the only viable political vision that will transform Sudan and South Sudan into two viable and peaceful countries.
However, the people of South Sudan will specially remember Garang as their newly born country faces enormous challenges of state and nation building. In particular, the SPLM that heralded the liberation struggle is facing the challenges of transition from liberation to governing. These challenges are becoming more pronounced as the SPLM now does not exist as a legal entity in the new country. More seriously, there are clear signs of power struggle in the SPLM even before it is legally established and that threatens its cohesion. Some political analysts described the level of power struggle in the SPLM as too soon to occur in relation to experiences from other liberation movements that took decades to reach the level it has reached now in the SPLM.
As SPLM is passing through such difficult times, it is necessary to reflect into its past and the evolution of legitimacy of leadership in the SPLM. The real process of legitimizing leadership in the SPLM started with the convening of the First National Convention in Chukudum in 1994. The delegates from all the liberated areas walked for months to attend this Convention. I still remember vividly the good memories of friendship and comradeship of our long walk journey with chiefs and other delegates from Yambio in Western Equatoria to attend the Convention. This Convention was convened when the areas under the control of the SPLM increased considerably and that dictated the need for civilian administration and it came after the split in 1991 when Dr Riek and others, although they ended up in Khartoum, raised issues of governance and legitimacy within the SPLM.
Despite some descending views about the leadership of Dr Garang, he was unanimously elected by the Convention as the Chairman of the SPLM. The most important moment during the Convention was the way Garang nominated Salva as his deputy when he rightly described him as a comrade for all seasons. Indeed Salva and in relation to other founding members of the SPLM, he had been very steadily, firmed and consistent in his commitment to the SPLM under the leadership of Dr Garang. Indeed, the election of Garang as the Chairman and Salva as Deputy Chairman of the SPLM consolidated the much-needed unity within the SPLM but importantly marked a new era of legitimizing SPLM leadership through convention.
Since the First National Convention, the SPLM entered into a bumpy process of power struggle. In particular, when Dr Riek rejoined SPLM in 2002 he demanded the second position after Dr Garang, a position that was legitimately held by Salva through election by the Convention. This created serious division within the SPLM leadership of where to reinstate Dr Riek in the leadership hierarchy of the SPLM. Although Dr Riek Machar was eventually reinstated back to his previous seniority position after Salva, the process was rather divisive and that left bitter feelings among and between the members of the SPLM leadership.
The crack in the leadership of the SPLM was about to occur in December 2004 and before the conclusion of the CPA in 2005 when Salva raised, within the SPLM structures, serious and genuine issues of governance in the SPLM. This crisis was averted by timely efforts of Dr Riek, Deng Alor, Paul Malong and others and that culminated into reconciliation between Garang and Salva and unity of the SPLM. When Dr Garang became the President of the new Government of Southern Sudan in July 2005, he did not hesitate to appoint Salva as his Vice President.
In his public address in Rumbek in July 2005 only few days before the tragic plane crush incident that took his life, Garang introduced Salva as the only surviving founding members of the SPLM and that he would be his successor. This act clearly showed the commitment of Garang to respect the hierarchical legitimacy of leadership in the SPLM and as the basis of smooth transition in the leadership. With his untimely death on 30th July 2005, the SPLM leadership met immediately and Salva was unanimously confirmed as a new leader of the SPLM. The family of Dr Garang, particularly comrades Rebecca Nyandeng and Elijah Malok were very instrumental in building consensus around Salva as the only successor of Garang.
When the SPLM planned its Second Convention in 2008, there was almost a consensus around Salva to lead the party but there was power struggle for the position of the Deputy Chairperson. In the initial draft constitution of the SPLM, there was a consensus of having only one deputy and there was a general feeling that this position to be filled by James Wani who was very popular among the delegates of the Convention. This move angered Dr Riek as he was expecting to fill this position by the virtue of his seniority in the SPLM leadership.
In an effort to retain the position of deputy chairperson, Dr Riek threatened to contest against Salva for the leadership of the party and that would have divided the party. With efforts from elders such as Abel Alier and Joseph Lagu, this power struggle was averted by resolving to have three deputies in the newly adopted SPLM Constitution, 2008. Subsequently, the Convention unanimously elected Salva Kiir as the Chairman and Dr Riek Machar, James Wani and Malik Agar were elected as Deputies Chairperson of the SPLM.
Now, as the SPLM is about to convene its third convention, the fever of power struggle is being felt again. Unlike other conventions, the preparation for the third convention seems to be more occupied by struggle for leadership rather than focusing on establishing SPLM as new political party. Although Dr Riek has every right to reveal his intention to contest for the leadership of the SPLM, it was too early and it would have ideally been raised within the structures of party. What was very unusual was for Dr Riek to squarely blame Salva for the poor performance of the government in which he was the vice-president. In fact President Salva not only picked Dr Riek in 2010 elections as his running mate but also delegated to him the necessary powers to build collegial and collective leadership to run the government. Indeed Dr Riek succeeded very well in discharging the powers delegated to him by President Salva.
The decision of President Salva to relieve all members of his cabinet and reduce the number of ministries was well received. Although the appointment of new cabinet received mixed reactions, it is good that President Salva has at last picked his team that is expected to deliver and make a real difference in the lives of people of South Sudan. What is missing now is a clear programme for the new government. Organizationally, it would be appropriate if these major decisions to get the blessing of the SPLM, particularly the programme for the new government. The success of this new government will rest with the political backing of the SPLM as the ruling political party. This necessitates and in the best interest of President Salva to focus now on building a more cohesive and united SPLM and to expedite the passing of the basic documents, registration of the SPLM and the convening of the National Convention.
If Dr Garang were to advice the SPLM, he would certainly remind Salva that during his leadership of the SPLM he had opened many new pages to unite the ranks and cadres of the SPLM. Garang would certainly advice Salva to open a new page for the much-needed reconciliation and unity among the cadres of the SPLM. Garang would remind Salva what he said in December 2004 and in May 2008 when he nominated Dr Riek Machar, James Wani and Malik Agar for the position of deputy chairperson and Pagan Amum to the position of Secretary General when he stated that:
“Let us remember always that we are comrades who once shared difficult moments during our liberation struggle. Let us unite and nurture our comradeship as the road of struggle is long and thorny and we need each other more than any before.”
The author is a Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He can be reached at [email protected] . This article is also published by the New Nation Newspaper