President Kiir’s speech at swearing-in of Jemma Nunu Kumba as SPLM Ag/SG
8 min read“Standing ovation and cheering”
President Kiir: Agotu (get seated). SPLM Oyee
Audience: Oyee
President Kiir: SPLM Oyee
Audience: Oyee
President Kiir: Kulu (All) SPLM leadership Oyee
Audience: Oyee
November 16, 2015 (SSB) — President Kiir: Comrade James Wani, deputy chairman of the SPLM and vice president of the republic. Comrade Jema Nunu Kumba, acting secretary general of the SPLM. All the members of the political bureau, the Speaker of the National Assembly, members of the SPLM National Liberation Council, all ordinary members of the SPLM and every supporter of the SPLM. Salaam aleku kulu-ku.
Audience: SPLM Oyee, SPLM Oyee. Comrade Salva Kiir Mayardit Oyeee.
President Kiir: I will not have a speech to deliver to you because the day was supposed to be short. And what was supposed to be done here was the swearing in of our new colleague who will be running the SPLM office until when the permanent people will be appointed to that office again.
I thank all of you for coming and I congratulate, on your behalf, comrade Nunu Kumba for her deserved appointment.
POPULAR SPLM
What I want to say is that SPLM is our party. As the head of the SPLM, I don’t say it is my party because today if I go, if I decide to rebel against the SPLM, as people have been doing, I will not take it with me. I will just run as a person. And SPLM has made a name, not only in Sudan or in South Sudan but worldwide. There is no place where the SPLM is not popular (in Arabic) and this is why people rebel against it but they don’t go away. They go and turn around and they say they want to take it over and not knowing that they have actually destroyed it.
SPLM IS ROCK
Some people were saying that they will destroy this SPLM and then they form their own SPLM in the way they would want to do it. Nobody will manage. Try to break Jebel (hill) Kujur and put another hill. You will not manage. The people who have been rebelling against the SPLM and the people of South Sudan will regret to themselves at the end of the day because SPLM was not meant for only thing to do – we thought that this generation was to take over the responsibility of liberating the people of South Sudan – once and for all. And this was done.
Twenty-one years fighting, we lost many people of South Sudan. Some were killed in the battle field. Some were innocently murdered in their villages. Some were subjected to die of hunger when the authorities in Khartoum refused the international NGOs to enter into South Sudan to save the lives of the people. In 1998 alone, in Bahr El Ghazal, we lost 800,000 people – who died of such disasters and so if this thing has not being felt by the rest of our brothers and sisters that intend to continue fighting South Sudanese, then this stomach has many things – you can give birth to your children; one might be theft, one wizard and anything (in Arabic) and one person may be doing good things. Those of you who have remained footed in the SPLM/SPLA, you are the good child.
LET YOU NOT BE SCARED
I want you to continue with that spirit because those who are doing those funny things, will wither them away at the end of the day. Let you not be scared. Let us be firm and we move forward. Determination is success in everything – when you are determined. In the first split of the SPLM [1991], if the people who remained were not determined to continue with the struggle, we would have not being independent today and there would be no something called South Sudan. But the few who remained, stood firmed until CPA (2005) was signed.
GANGING TO BURRY SOUHT SUDAN ALIVE
Now, you have seen the international community – have ganged up against us. They want to burry South Sudan alive simply because the government of South Sudan did not accept to be manipulated; to be threatened so that it gives its sovereignty out to other people. So people say these ‘hard-headed people must go.’ And that regime change policy has not died. You be careful. The people who preaching this policy of regime change can come to you today with nice words saying they are our friends. Anyway, accept that friendship with caution. Nobody should and say do it this way. South Sudan is our country. We liberated it and we will remain in it.
SPERATE SPLM’S WORK FROM GOV’T’S WORKS
As ruling party called SPLM, let us concentrated in the party work. As said by comrade Wani before, that this is SPLM House. Yes, we will have to be here. The work of the party should not be done during government’s working hours and government has time – from this hour in the morning to this hour in the evening and the work will be finished. Any work you do thereafter, will not be that much. And if there is a party in the country, then you turn to do for a party. That program is always there but people go and work differently. They don’t respect it. It is now time to do it. Because this peace agreement which we have signed it is in between – either it will have to be implemented, which we have started, or it will be dismantled by other people who would want it not to be implemented. So for us, the SPLM party sitting here in front of me, we are for the implementation of this agreement. Even if means tomorrow that when those who are fighting us come in and they are to be given position in the government and you are told to get up from your chair and it is given to those who have been fighting us for the sake of our country, you will have to get up and allow somebody to come in.
What we don’t accept from them is this force. That it will be done by force, that is what will not accept because when we were fighting, they ran away, they ran and sit and take rest in Khartoum. And now they say that they are stronger than us; that they can defeat us. It is not. But we receive them, we would receive them and we will then sit in the same offices and then we will implement the agreement. But if the find you unorganized, the way I think that you unorganized, you will go devoid. You will devoid and you will be the one fighting us – the few who will not accept bribery, you will fight our members here. That will be very shameful. Some people may ask me where they will get money to bribe us. They have the money. They took from us and they have their friends who will give them the money.
The information I have about this peace agreement is that our brothers are told by their own friends to keep destabilizing South Sudan permanently so that South Sudan don’t see development. You will get this word on your own. If somebody does not want his or her country to progress and have peace, what sort of person is that? So, we will return to the words of comrade James Wani. We stand together as the party and the assignments that we have given to comrade Nunu Kumba are what actually we want them to be done. And the most important is the holding of the extraordinary national convention because if we that we are registered as a political party in this country. And we should be the first to be registered. Some people have already advanced in preparing for the registration – which they want to be registered. Let us leave any differences. Instead of us pulling ourselves backwards.
Let us move forward. If people are running away from a wild animal – like lion or leopard, and if there is a tree nearby, you will run so that you can climb onto the tree. There are people when they see somebody climbing the tree, they will catch his leg and pull him down saying, he want to go up first. If you do it like that, you will be found down there and if the animal is lion, it will eat all of you. None of you will survive. So let us not do it to ourselves that. That is not. I am happy comrade Nunu accepted the nomination of the leadership to the acting secretary general and to repeat what was said by comrade Wani that all those who were in the general secretariat of the SPLM should not think that they are thrown away.
Comrade Nunu will have to recommend all those she thinks can work with her and those who were not inside the general secretariat and can be brought in, those people, will have to serve the same. If you are not brought, don’t say I will have to rebel because I am left out of the SPLM General Secretariat. No. Let’s all do it.
I said SPLM is not mine and it is not yours, you. If we say it is for us, yes will defend it.
Thank you very much.”
The speech was transcribed by SSB but the opinion expressed here is solely the view of President Salva Kiir Mayardit. The veracity of any claim made are the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers (SSB) website. If you want to submit an opinion article or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. SSB do reserve the right to edit material before publication. Please include your full name, email address and the country you are writing from.
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