The Forgotten Vision of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) – Part 1

By Dut-machine De Mabior, Nairobi, Kenya

November 13, 2015 (SSB)  —-  The SPLM is the party in South Sudan that has done the irreversible in history. If for once there is anything a South Sudanese can be happy about, anything a South Sudanese can be proud of, anything a South Sudanese can be grateful to God for, that must be the twenty-one years long SPLM/A war of struggle that led to the four years ago independence of the Republic of South Sudan. With this independence in our banks, a South Sudanese can proudly stand among the other nationals and claim dignity, unlike our previous undignified union with the Khartoumers.

The many other Southern rebels did us proud and we will never forget them in our history; Anyanya One and Anyanya Two. But unlike SPLM, their struggles resulted into reversible histories which the Arabs regime could dishonour. However, their dear love for the people of South Sudan formed the basis for the SPLM/A to launch the famous rebellion that completed the dream of every South Sudanese by giving us an independent country.

Our independence is irreversible and anyone thinking otherwise does not belong to our beautiful land, the land of great people, by the grace of God, yet to make it to the strongest nations in the region and by extension; the world.

With numerous achievements, every South Sudanese born during the SPLM/A tenure became a member of the movement by default. The SPLM/A is the only government Southerners had known all their lives till 2011 when the independence dream was accomplished. On the 9^th of July 2011, all South Sudanese were on the streets of the major towns and villages celebrating the independence of their land from the oppressive rule.

These celebrations were not about an empty independence, they were celebrating jovially knowingly that the promises of the SPLM/A, a movement they had sustained using their grains would be realized. This was the basis of such big jubilation. The people had thought, unlike the Khartoum regime, the SPLM led government would begin to touch their lives in the confidential. All had expected the change in the living standards.

To the bewilderment of many, the SPLM led government kicked off the campaign on so many other negative nodes. Nothing changed promptly but still, the grassroots gave themselves time saying: “our only SPLM will learn and lead us to the better days.” They have waited till this long. Although, in a nation building process, four years of independence is not such a big time because other countries that got independence in the 1960s are more or less at the same technical level with South Sudan, but this was however the case before the mid December 2013.

This is not a reason whatsoever to justify our underdevelopment when indeed we have nothing tangible to show for the four years of independence. We got independent in the (twenty-first) 21^st century and surely should have started off at the digital speed of light instead of the analogue speed of a tortoise. This writing therefore gravitates so much on what the SPLM promised during the struggle and the early days of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and yet this far has nothing to show for it.

In one of the SPLM planning documents titled, “SPLM Strategic Framework for War-to-Peace Transition” published in 2004 signed by Dr. John Garang De Mabior in the preparation for CPA, the book quotes on page 47; “This framework is guided by the SPLM three strategic policy objectives of poverty eradication, sustainable economic growth with agriculture fueled by oil money as the engine of the growth, leading eventually to industrialization in a wider Pan-African context, and integration into the global economy.” The document continues to quote on the same page that; “Two of these-poverty eradication and sustainable economic growth-were first identified in the SPLM document: Peace Through Development, published in 2000”

This tells one that the core vision of the SPLM is poverty eradication. They were so determined to even use ‘Eradication’, a word many people shy away from; they would rather have used poverty ‘reduction’ but all in all, things have graduated from something to nothing as at now. The SPLM had promised to use the oil money to reduce poverty among the wider population of South Sudan. Yes as per the vision, the money is being used to reduce poverty but against the wider expectations of the grassroots, the oil money has only found itself in the pockets of the political cooks.

When one hears of the lost money at the presidency, the Dura Saga, The LC saga, the abnormal road construction budgets, the never going down list of ghost soldiers, the yearly Constituency Development funds (CDF) that no one in the constituencies knows where it goes, the… the list is longer; then anyone who has the hearts to connect between the SPLM of the bush and the SPLM of the present day realizes that the SPLM vision has been forgotten.

Against our tradition as a people, we may not quantify where the respect for dignity has disappeared to, everyone is stealing like nobody’s business. The SPLM vision will remain forgotten till we revert to being shameful of corruption and fight it teeth and nails. In South Sudan, corruption is real although used by the authorities to score political points in whichever way.

When we only accuse those not singing to our political tunes of corruption and those that are political friends become saints, then there is something we are yet to see in the perceived fight against graft. There is no a holly sin and anyone who steals shouldn’t be treated as a friend; for the true friends should be those who deliver to the public expectations.

Agriculture remains as the backbone of the virtual economy as long as the SPLM vision is something to go by. It was not out of a mere imagination that the Movement thought of agriculture as the foundation of their would-be economy. It is truly agriculture that has sustained the people of South Sudan since their existence. It’s the same practice that they had used to support the famous Movement, the SPLM/A. It only requires a click of the button to see agriculture flourish in South Sudan; for the land is still virgin and good indeed for growing anything edible.

But instead to give priority to agricultural research firms, allocate money for such activities, find ways of supporting the villagers with weeds killers, help them with improved seeds, come up with markets for those that produce surplus, we went ahead to buy tractors that have no drivers and lack the maintenance budgets. I am sure, this action lacked scientific research on how to improve our agricultural productivity. It must have been for winning political points because after all, that’s what we in South Sudan do very well; outdo our political opponents at the expenses of the people.

I am yet to receive a call from my old mother in the village anyway explaining to me how much the bought tractors have altered her dull live on the positive note else, the procurement was meant to keep the dwindling hopes alive that all is being corrected. It has taken longer with no results being celebrated so far. When one sees us majoring on the minor in the wake to improve agricultural sector; the true planned engine of the economy, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the SPLM vision has been forgotten.

The SPLM had a well-defined vision to improve the transport sector. This was defined in the framework document as Roads, Railway and River. These were to be the major means of transport in the New Sudan (but since we separated, the vision would remain for South Sudan). The Movement at the time went ahead to map out the roads it would build in the framework. SPLM had a plan of rebuilding the roads in the present day South Sudan after sixty (60) months.

This was expected to kick off immediately after signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Making a little bit of calculations in this regards, the roads below should have been finished by the 8^th of January 2010.

In accordance with the SPLM framework document, the above roads were due for rehabilitation immediately upon the signing of the CPA as from the 9^th of January 2005continuosly for twelve months before the next phase of roads rehabilitation could begin. This means they were due for completion on the 8^th of January 2006.

Part Two comes soon.

The author, Dut-machine de Mabior, is a student of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Kenyatta University, Nairobi Kenya.

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PaanLuel Wël is the founder and editor-in-chief of PaanLuel Wël Media Ltd, a news website that covers news, opinions, analysis, history, culture and literature of South Sudan and the world. Founded in July 2011 by PaanLuel Wël to create a platform for free expression and constructive dialogue, the website features articles from various contributors, including columnists, commentators, poets, authors, activists and academics. PaanLuel Wël believes that media can play a vital role in informing, educating and empowering the people to participate in nation-building and social transformation. He also believes that media can foster a culture of dialogue, tolerance and diversity among different communities and groups, and hopes to inspire and mentor the next generation of South Sudanese writers and journalists.

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