Dr. Lam Akol’s Response: Riek Machar’s Baseless Allegations in the USA Reflect Ignorance.
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Democratic Change
الرئيس: Chairman:
10 October 2012
The Chairman of SPLM-DC, Dr Lam Akol, today issued the following statement:
Riek Machar’s Baseless Allegations in the USA Reflect Ignorance.
In a briefing of South Sudanese in Omaha, Nebraska, in the USA, Dr Riek Machar, the Vice President of the Republic, said that the SPLM-DC will not be registered under the leadership of Dr Lam Akol, because he is accused[sic] of supporting armed groups that are fighting the government of South Sudan and that this was tantamount to treason. We could not believe he could utter such nonsense until we saw the videotape on the internet.
The question we pose to the ‘learned’ Vice President is this: who is accusing Dr Lam Akol and where was the accusation lodged? Following from that, some fundamental questions arise: are people deemed guilty on the basis of an accusation? Is the SPLM party the one to register political parties, so that it can pronounce which to register and which not to?
It is commonsense that if Dr Riek Machar would want to accuse Dr Lam Akol, he should do so in a court of law that would weigh the strength of the evidence and take a decision. It is the court of law that determines whether the accused was guilty or not. If the court had passed a conviction, then and only then may a person so convicted be denied his political and other rights. Dr Riek Machar conjures up an accusation and proceeds to presume the accused guilty, which runs counter to our accepted principle of justice that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Maybe Dr Riek Machar needs some lessons in commonsense.
In the same talk, Riek also mentioned that he was talking to some SPLM-DC members in Juba. We know who is talking to and what he is telling them, but certainly his claim that he was giving them advice is not true.
Dr Riek Machar is a person suffering from many complexes engendered by his total isolation and helplessness in the SPLM hierarchy despite his glittering titles. It is not our intention here to get into that and as to why he could tolerate such an awkward position. But all must understand that this state of mind could be the only reason why somebody who carries such high academic qualifications would hallucinate and talk out of reason. Dr Riek is picking up a bone which is not his, in order to endear himself and prove his loyalty (which is suspect) to the powers that be in the SPLM leadership, who would not approve of anyone unless he/she talks ill of Dr Lam Akol. However, he was not properly coached as to how to throw the bone at the target.
In his usual pretentiousness, Dr Riek Machar wanted to impress upon the audience that he was in charge in the government of South Sudan, which he is not. A simple shepherd in our cattle camps knows this fact very well. Some of the things he was talking about with authority, he is ignorant about. He is well advised to look for softer targets or shut up.
The persistent SPLM allegation that SPLM-DC was sponsoring militia is something that has been with us since the birth of SPLM-DC in June 2009. SPLM has found it a convenient tool to intimidate our would-be supporters and scare off some weak-kneed members of the party. Over the three years or so, they managed to engineer the defections of some but the death of SPLM-DC this wished was nowhere to come. On the contrary, today, SPLM-DC continues as the strong voice of our down-trodden people. This is why the SPLM leadership is scared. Nothing the likes of Dr Riek Machar could do to reverse the strong tide of support SPLM-DC enjoys among our people.
END.
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