From: South Sudan Press
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955), the widely renowned physicist and humanist said “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Sounds like a simple proposition but it is a powerful truth. If one is part of a problem, one can not see his/her role in it. In other words it is an issue of the blind spot.
This is why when doctors are sick they do not self prescribe but consult other doctors for treatment. Similarly, lawyers typically do not represent themselves in courts when accused, even though they are able to.
However, SPLM wants to be an exception and does not believe in the concept of blind spot. Destructive as it is, it can not see its role in the crisis that has sadly engulfed the country. Ridiculously, SPLM wants to remain in power as if nothing has happened in the country as a result of its brutal actions in mid December 2013. Remorselessly and with poor judgement of the situation SPLM expects to continue with business as usual. Is this not lunacy?
Akol Paul Kordit, the chairman of the SPLM Youth League in an article on Sudan Tribune ‘SPLM youth Leader warns against forming interim government’
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article49981
rejected the idea of a new and neutral government in South Sudan as a solution to the current crisis. He argues that the SPLM convincingly won the last election in 2010 and therefore it should not entertain any ideas of an interim administration because that would be tantamount to rewarding rebellion.
Such views are not helpful in the current situation because they are regressive and would not lead to any desirable solutions in the country.
Kordit would do better to familiarise himself with the election of April 2010. First of all, that election was thoroughly rigged by his beloved party. Secondly, that election was held in the then Sudan under president Omer Bashir and its mandate expired on the day South Sudan became a separate country on 9th July 2011. Note that given this view the SPLM assumed power illegally. The truth of the matter is that the 6 month interim period between the referendum in January 2011 and the independence in July 2011 was designed to enable South Sudan to prepare a legitimate government to take power on Independence Day. SPLM under president Kiir deliberately neglected this process to install himself as the president of independent South Sudan with the SPLM as the governing party regardless of what South Sudanese had wanted. In the said 6 month period South Sudan represented by the various political parties had agreed a way forward which president Kiir contemptuously violated to advance his hold on the people of South Sudan.
The sad thing is that SPLM claims that the election of 2010 gave it a mandate for 5 years and therefore it had the right to continue governing South Sudan after independence. This is not only misleading but a load of trash. The 5 years mandate referred to would have been applicable only in the event that South Sudanese voted for unity of the Sudan and remained in a united country. But this is not the case. South Sudanese voted for secession. As South Sudan broke away from Khartoum, that mandate became null and void in relation to South Sudan. SPLM could only claim to be democratic and legitimate if it had been voted into power in the now independent South Sudan. Without such election SPLM has no shred of any democratic legitimacy. Therefore, SPLM is not democratically elected by the people of South Sudan. Any such assertion amounts to fraudulent claim.
In fact it is arguable that president Kiir and the SPLM carried out a kind of a coup d’etat in South Sudan on 9th July 2011 when it assumed power without consent of the people. SPLM simply imposed itself on the people and the country.
Kordit’s argument that an interim administration amounts to rewarding rebellion is baseless. South Sudanese want an interim government as a solution to the unhealthy blood letting situation in the country. It is clear that the Nuer can not and rightly so feel safe under Jieng leadership because of the ethnic cleansing that president Kiir conducted on them. Equally, the Jieng will not feel secure under a Nuer leadership because of fears of revenge. So the solution lies in the leadership going to a neutral person respected by both groups and the country at large. Such a leader can only come through an interim government of national unity.
A new and neutral government as a solution to the problems facing the country is therefore the most reasonable thing to do. Any sensible and reasonable person with the country at heart must support this proposition. As Onyoti Adigo of South Sudan parliament recommended, a new government is needed to “make the political climate more inclusive and encourage reconciliation.” President Kiir can not just continue in power as usual. He and his beloved party have ruined the country. With the latest incident of ethnic cleansing there is just no reason whatsoever for president Kiir to continue ruling the country. His government has forfeited its right to rule.
Kordit argues “we believed in this government. We have elected this government. The youth of South Sudan love this government because it is their government. We trust this government and we must have collective effort to protect it and encourage good wish for this government.” This is empty rhetoric. What does Kordit mean by “we”? Who are the “we”? Does it include the people this government victimised? Does it include the Nuer? Does it include the Fertit? Does it include the Chollo people? Does it include the subjugated people of Equatoria? Does it include the broad masses of South Sudan? Or, who is this “we” referring to? Kordit as a beneficiary of the crooked system is doubly blind to the heinous crimes his party is committing in the country. Anybody in their normal faculties can not shower president Kiir’s government with rosy words like he did. Only sycophants do. It is clear the current government has served its purpose and it is time for it to go.
Thus the proposal for a new and neutral government is the right thing to do in South Sudan in order and not limited to: 1) rectify the usurpation of power by the SPLM on 9th July 2011. 2) mitigate the abominable ethnic cleansing president Kiir and his militia unleashed on the country. 3) assure the general public of their security. 4) allow for a proper preparation for the coming election. 5) enable return of peace all over the country.
Kordit must understand that this is the wish of South Sudanese and it will have to be implemented whether SPLM likes it or not. South Sudan is larger than all the political parties combined and so SPLM as a tribal organisation will not stop the wishes of the people. South Sudanese people now know that keeping quiet is not an option. They have to now speak out loud and clear for a democratic change with a demand for a new and neutral government. Please wind down by listening to the panel in the YouTube video ‘South Sudan: Is Peace Possible’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y19cWNIkVlo
[Truth hurts but it is also liberating]
The author lives in the Republic of South Sudan. He can be reached at elhagpaul@aol.com