By Laraka Machar Turoal
March 9, 2014 (SSNA) — The Sudanese People Liberation Movement (SPLM) that was accredited by general Sudanese populace to have been the people’s movement has turned to be one a man residence. The history of liberation of the people of Southern Sudan for more than four decades from 1955 a year or more before the full independence of the republic of Sudan remain a basic fact which none of the parties or individuals liberation predecessors who participated in it could erase. It started with men whose sense of humor to the people of Southern Sudan (our people) is indispensable and more valuable than those who are claiming to have possessed it.
A statesman like James Both Diu with his colleagues from Equotoria, Bhar- el –gazal and some parts of Upper-Nile pushed for it even when their bargaining powers were less compared to their political rivals in the North. None the less, he (Both Diu) his political stand for the autonomy of Southern Sudan remains un-checkable. His persistent for the pullout of South Sudanese from subordination in the North were overcome by the people who hold power in the country by then. Yet he never gives up his liberation ideas until his death. In 1960s until the Annanya movements few devotees emerged, people who think South Sudan should independently stand alone in the African continent, selfless statesmen such as Joseph Lagu of Annanya one and Samuel Gai Tut of Annanya two among others. They purely came out with ideas of fighting for liberty, fraternity and development for South Sudanese, but their ideas short-lived especially when political maneuvers entered the political arena of South Sudan.
However, in 1983 Sudan People Liberation Movement thrived to be a movement that hold public trust, and indeed SPLM was able to catch public trust for some time until the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and a bigger portion of Sudanese society were excited about that, since it came with tremendous vigor to relieve subordinate South Sudanese from oppression, injustice and underdevelopment. A few years later this turn to be an illusion when the party’s internal democracy turns out to be a nightmare, when SPLM’s irrelevant political icons get imposed on to people in various SPLM controlled areas and more especially in South Sudan. No matter how successful was the party; it is still termed by many as absence of “Internal Democracy” which put its growth in to jeopardy after the Independent of South Sudan.
Furthermore, one man’s hegemony rule over South Sudan’s largest Party is an irritating scene and seems to be prevailing even if it pin shape thorns onto members bodies.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF ABSENCE OF INTERNAL DEMOCRACY
World over, political parties where authoritarianism is inevitable is likely to collapse by either splitting up in to two or more small parties, such party end up in a very anarchical way and neither remain trustworthy nor liberal as usual. It’s such a miserable state that SPLM will end up with. It is only six years now when SPLM took the South Sudan Leadership and a major split occurred in the coast, so what would one think when this party goes ahead with such unsteady steps. If history is to repeat itself, as it was; many African independent parties ended up this way. The Kenya African National Union (KANU) of Jomo Kenyatta dictated the way Kenyan politics was to be run, parties use not to enjoy the right of expression as well as association but was indeed over taken because it run out of modern political ideas of good governance and democracy.
More so, democracy, human rights, the rule of law and development are interrelated; there is no development without proper rule of law and respect for human rights. It is bad for some rulers (Salva Kiir) in South Sudan to assume that giving basic services to the people will be an equal to denying them those rights. Human rights are universal and inalienable as stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Therefore, Salva Kiir has taken this party and the Nation into contempt and disrepute, a social political-economic airborne disease which is not curable.
The author is a corned South Sudanese. He can be reached at [email protected].