Where is regime politics: South Sudan is left at the hands of dangerous ethnic warlords
By Ariik Atekdit, Juba, South Sudan
November 17, 2016 (SSB) — The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the ruling political party in South Sudan, has totally remained in the name but not in principles as expected. During the days of the Old Sudan, there used to be active political youth organizations or political activists that in reality would reflect the patriotic society for South Sudan and the nation.
Today members of the former African National Front (ANF) are left to perish and there are no political nationalists of patriotism across the nation due to the current divisions of tribal lines and clans. Entirely majority of South Sudanese have lost their patriotism to tribal or regional confederations. People have become members of their own ethnic communities more than being members of a certain political party. This is what has taken our country to the current backwardness that has brought the nationwide insecurity and social phobia.
The SPLM/A has fought for so long making a lot of successful campaigns against the various politics of division with several Khartoum regimes. The SPLM as a political party climbed up to political and administrative leadership in Sudan with the implementation of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and for the last 5 years, SPLM becomes the final administrator to the Republic of South Sudan and has thoroughly failed to control the politics of unity among the South Sudanese.
Why has the SPLM as a massive political party failed to manage the smaller region of South Sudan, when in reality the movement was aspiring to control the whole of Sudan with the ideology of New Sudan? How difficult are South Sudanese to be managed by this enormous political party? Do we have to blame the citizens for failing to stay united or should we finger our concerns at the ruling administrators of the SPLM party? Why did they “let go” the unity that we assembled during the CPA and referendum period?
Any longer, the SPLM members don’t trust each other. A member of Nuer community in the SPLM party is seen as a rebel ally. While a Dinka SPLM member is construed as a new tyrant for South Sudanese, assumed to be corrupt and doesn’t want change or development in the nation. The Shilluk SPLM members are thought to be spies of the Democratic Change Party (the SPLM-DC) and have no any truth to say in the affairs of the party. Members of the party belonging to Equatoria’s various ethnic communities are judged to be less patriotic who do not give typical and physical support to the party. Groups are formed as per certain ethnicities, therefore creating a big loss for a political agenda in the country and we remain as tribes. Why should we allow such attitudes to overrun the national policies?
During CPA period in Khartoum, the SPLM was a large political critic to the Sudan’s then ruling party the National Congress (NCP). When they criticized, they talked policies that they wanted to be implemented for the interest of the nation. Today, the very SPLM as a political party has got to fail in South Sudan when they are the rulers of the nation. It is not up to the citizens to remain united if policies are not well drawn. However, it is absolutely up to the ruling regime to work hard to control and unite its citizens across the country regardless of their ethnic background.
The worst of all is that we are losing several generations to tribal hatreds while the national agenda of South Sudan is thrown into the sea as we continue to survive in the nation of ethnic borders and territories. What does it mean for a ruling regime to have a country that does not exchange government servants across states or else they would be killed because of their tribal background and especially by their own comrades? Does it make any sense? I think the ruling regime might have forgotten something in their books of principles. They need to read back their liberation notebooks.
This Party must strive to work harder than now to unite the nation. There must be forums and conferences across the nation to recover unity among us. I can see that our hospitality is being lost and our human feeling has gone, that is why we end up killing ourselves like animals – and burning people into buses at the highways in a method of targeting certain ethnic communities.
Who can come in to solve such a situation? Before we could charge rebels of having incited such incidences, it is the SPLM ruling party that must bring out with an initiative of peace and reconciliation campaign. I know there are many books down there at the Secretariat that have not been read for so long. We need to read more about peacemaking and reactivate the nation back to unity. This is the only way we can stay together. Things cannot happen alone; they must be initiated and dealt with.
Currently, it is the ethnic communities that recommend politicians to be appointed. Even members of the other political parties are being appointed using SPLM tickets as they immediately plan to register for SPLM membership after taking up offices in the name of the party. People need to be serious in managing the country’s affairs.
In a nation that has policies we don’t pick politicians at the street but they are to be trained as cadres and assigned as per their commitments not because their traditional chiefs have recommended them. What do ethnic chiefs know in politics to recommend sons and daughters for political appointments? This has been the case in the appointments of 28 governors and several commissioners in various new counties in the country. Is this politics or community regime?
We should not allow this nation to be preyed by the ethnic division instead of installing a positive political agenda for development and nation-building. It is upon the ruling SPLM party to research on making peace among the citizens at their control.
The author is a long time experienced journalist, a freelancer and holds a bachelor of education in bio/chemistry. He can be reached @ Atekdit Mawien: ariqdudic@gmail.com
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