How negative personalities are pushing SPLM into the pit
11 min readBy Kon Joseph Leek, Juba, South Sudan
June 20, 2016 (SSB) — Many organizations and institutions have been set up and still are, for time immemorial with rules, visions, and missions. Many thinks they are the rules that are fulfilled, visions followed and aims satisfied but the main driving force behind the accomplishment of the above are the general characteristics of the human decision-making to satisfy the said institution
When a person hears of the institution’s strength, they hardly think of individual’s characteristics behind the strength of the particular institution. Tanzania’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi [CCM] was and still is strong because of its founder [Julius Nyerere] and those ones who came after him. South Africa’s National Congress [ANC] is still strong because of the same thing. German’s Nazism that led the world to 2nd world war was as well strong and died with its founder Adolf Hitler and so is Mussolini’s fascism. Where does that leave the Sudan People’s liberation Movement [SPLM]?
Rudeness or brutality of a system or its decency is not in the documents or papers that direct it but in the characteristics of the individuals that heads them. Some institutions collapses when their heads goes; like Kenya’s KANU and Nazism together with its sister fascism have never risen again!
It is the human personality that make the rules works or else the individual weaknesses of the chair makes the rules dysfunctional and therefore equates to the failure of the whole system and lastly leads to the downfall of the specific institution
The fundamental task of this commentary is to identify how the general human weaknesses influence policy in the SPLM. Decision-making includes gathering information from various sources, analyzing that information, establishing goals and making policy choices. Were they being done?
When we talk of how the human nature influences the institutional success or failure, we look at how the fundamental human characteristics influence policy in the SPLM. WE human have limited and flawed decision-making abilities intellectually and emotionally. It is due to our characteristics’ inability or disability to learn and process all the information required to make fully rational decisions. We have emotions that wasp our judgment especially when we get angry
We shall only look at SPLM secretariat as headed by Pagan Amum, Dr. Ann Itto and Nunu Kumba. We will look at the recommendation; right person to lift the SPLM up from the pool of mud Nunu is drowning it
Pagan Amum Okiech
Pagan has been too outstanding, vocal talker. His tongue is that hit hard enough and he shivers not in the face of danger, he still talks though he is in the Den of Lion! Remember his arrest with Yasser Arman in Khartoum before we had our referendum for self-determination. A great man as Pagan sometimes have some dangerous flaws, Pagan’s problems lies in work, he talks much and work less and dictates many things. He was the first to catch the SPLM by the throat and attempted to strangle it before Nunu came in with a clap and bang it on the head [it is an euthanasia], but it [SPLM] is still kicking legs [it is still not dead yet, it can be saved]
Pagan’s being the first post-semi-autonomy and independent Secretary General of the party could have been the first to make it shine all over. Now SPLM has no businesses, has no schools, it has some few lands they could have done a lot like investing.
Diom Chieer once suggested to him about the investments of the SPLM for instance, the current Vivacell centre to do some businesses in its land and buying more lands and make investments, Pagan instead gave a cold shoulder and sold the land to Vivacell of which SPLM is having quarter percentage of its shares. Pagan’s emotions of ignoring and unwelcoming information and reject policies which he saw as emotionally unacceptable is one thing dragging the institution to the abyss. Like ANC and CCM, SPLM could have been rich now but emotional drive of pagan has rejected that for the SPLM.
People think according to what they can do best. They can know many think but the most safest is decided at last [adapting the first thing that satisfy your goals but all what have been decided are kind of optimum that are hard to be fulfilled]
Dr. Ann Itto
She was a strong lady, Pagan’s reverse, worker who talk less. Her role during the referendum and elections were quiet amazing. As pagan was busy talking and campaigning, Ann was busy administratively managing and organizing the SPLM issues in its headquarters. If all ladies were like this one, we would not have any problem at all. Her weakness to me only lies in connecting between Pagan [the SG and Kiir, the chairman]. Conflict between the two started at her presence as a deputy SG but failed to do anything to reconcile them. I have no record or never heard of her as corrupt-the burden that is much implicating Pagan Amum
Nunu Kumba
The current Secretary General is more famous than any other woman apart from Mama Nyandeng, she has never been out of the system since 2008, she was defeated by Joseph Bakasoro in gubernatorial elections in Western Equatoria and got appointed as minister in Juba and appointed again and again, she is currently the minister of wildlife and the acting secretary of the SPLM. Her previous ministerial positions have been less functioning [a common trouble with many ministries] but keeps on coming back. She has not at all conducted a single secretariat meeting since her time in office, no observation no nothing! When she came, she thought of changing some of the SPLM secretariat members with some who have been in the North, this led to general frustration in the SPLM and work became slow-moving because of frustration. Fortunately, her decision was cancelled by the [SPLM] members of Political Bureau.
Her lack of taking actions made the undersecretary in the wildlife ministry talked like a child whose mother has been away for too long when she held the first meeting with the directors in the ministry, Achiro was quoted to have said that, ‘if you are not Marial or Mabior, you can’t get anything good’. I don’t know who the Mabior or Marial the undersecretary was talking about when he himself was not a Mabior or Marial, Nunu is neither, and so is the Director General of Tourism [the biggest posts there]. Only the DG of wildlife is. Never did Nunu say anything to warn the long serving, weak, tribal and divisive undersecretary
What she has managed to do are the extraordinary convention for the SPLM [accountability is quiet another]. Governors’ reception [accountability awaits her still], submission of the SPLM’s registration [accountability is also in question]. All these have caused millions of pounds each though they seemed to have not taken that much but we are waiting if she will account. May be may be not!
She indulge herself in unnecessary trips in a country hit by brokenness, she recently travelled to Kampala with some 4-5 members recently in a bid to appoint or elect SPLM representative there. Is this really a right time? Where did that money come from when SPLM junior staffs are stricken by hunger?
Why should Nunu be made to keep those two busy positions [wildlife ministry and SPLM] when SPLM is having capable cadres?
Shared weaknesses
Lack of capacity building is their shared responsibility, junior officials are not sent for capacity building instead political appointees goes for them. It is like there is no hope for the future of the SPLM; most of these political appointees are behaving like they are soon forming their own. If they are the ones that go for that capacity building training and later changed to other positions through appointment then where is the SPLM’s future there?
Another shared problem is with the Headquarter, SPLM’s headquarter is quiet small and poor, it does not equate to the level of the ruling party. They thought of constructing the Freedom Plaza [the would-be name of SPLM headquarter like Uganda’s Uganda House of UPC the first ruling party] but that plaza has never been constructed up to now, they [SPLM leadership] instead want to buy a flat [a hotel for Ethiopians] in Munuki near medan simba. With this business’ kind of buildings, how would one dare buy them? Again, if it is bought, would it be Freedom Plaza anymore or will it maintain that Ethiopia’s hotel name? Besides, it is quiet small and the ownership is not yet quiet clear, it was leased to the Ethiopian because they don’t own lands here, so instead of buying it from the Ethiopian, they would have better bought it from its actual owner if they are to buy it at all. SPLM is having plots in Munuki and Jebel though they have the documents of jebel plot, somebody else has constructed a flat there and they don’t want to know who that person is or might it have been sold away by one big cat in the SPLM?
Recommendations
For some rule and some are ruled and different offices are held by the rulers and all are supervised by the heads [chair], president Kiir, being the chairman entrusts the SG and are not supervised instead this results to firing and reshuffling which are not health at all instead it is good to put a hard working loyal person like Martin Madut Yak [I will come into that later].
What is seen to be good with the institutions is what actually destroys them if they are not supervised. It is good to take a personal supervision when lower offices are not functional instead of it being looked as public thing, English says that “too many cooks spoil the…. “. So what belongs to all belongs to nobody and this is why you see corruption because communal things are corrupted for they belong to nobody.
Nunu Kumba, a woman just like her predecessor Dr. Ann Itto should not in a country like South Sudan [volatile and militarized] hold such positions because women inhabit some sorts of womanish trait that make them quiet inferior especially in ideas or decision making
When we talk about ideas in this country, it has been created and dominated by men and it is fixed in the minds of our militarized men who knows little about feminism because of biblical [1Timothy 2:11, and 1Corin 11:3] and African belief that men should always be superior and this make our women equivocal about feminism and this is why we end up talking about men when we talk about ideas. Women recognition in decision making is kind of sporadic in South Sudan’s perspective. So let’s be African enough for now
In the SPLM’s secretariat, in fact many of whom have been in positions for years and have never done anything, not even a slight change for they don’t know what to do; do I need to mention them? Reason is like I have said earlier, they don’t know what to do but are just lucky because their works are not supervised, many of whom are just bystanders, others are working while enemies from the inside; the type that blame the system when he is in the system [those are the bad types who are trusted and are indeed the ones dragging the party to the slaughter room], others don’t care or mind about what is going on and they don’t want to know anything either. And the few capable ones like Martin Majut are sidelined made mute, inactive and perplex
Better choice [why I think Martin Majut Yak is a better choice to make the SPLM great again]
Martin Majut Yak is the ideal choice, a man of self-integrity and self-esteem. He knows how to talk and what to say, how to say it, when and where. He is one of the few South Sudanese who is not having the tongues that can dismember the members from the membership of SPLM.
It was him with Abraham Alaak Garang who insisted in changing of the SPLM from SPLM to something else when those in Khartoum [with the NCP] thought of changing the name in order to include them or be part of History or to distort SPLM glorious history to something bizarre, many of whom were with the Khartoum government prior to 2005 and independence.
Martin Majut rejected it and cautioned that this is a ploy to destroy SPLM’s history and a political coupe against the peoples’ movement which was at the brink of being hijacked by some NCP mafias.
He is the man who can control the system and the flow of communication system in the SPLM, make gain for the party, maintain, and defend it and MAKE IT GREAT AGAIN.
SPLM, if needed to be great again, it is none other than Majut. Any alarm that he comes from Bahr El’Gazal is eminent but it is about work, it’s about prosperity of the institution, it is not about just presentation that has been tried and has yielded nothing. On the perspective of regional representation, we have then seen Pagan and Nunu what else do we want? [unless Taban Deng Gai, may be, who else? nobody] Amama Mbabazi, the former SG of the Uganda’s NRM is from Western Uganda like Museveni but in a civilized society like Uganda, it was never raised. NRM is a great party now, let us not be such damn uncivilized idiots who indulge themselves in those useless, divisive regional representations. So make the SPLM great again
The author is a commentator on contemporary issues, he can be reached on j.konleek@gmail.com
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