Juba, South Sudan
July 8,2021 — While the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, might have had a nightmare from Salva Kiir’s interview with Jeff Koinange, the chairman’s dark days are far from over.
On the same day, July 7th, 2021, a minor but vocal opposition from within the SPLM/A-IO under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Duer Tut Duer declared enough is enough.
The long time critic and a former SPLM-IO governor of Sobat State has on Wednesday, 7th of July 2021, announced that he took over the power of the SPLM/SPLA-IO from Dr Riek Machar and say he installs himself to lead the movement as an interim chairman until the National convention is organized.
This came less than a month after he (Duer) had announced on his Facebook account on 25th of June, 2021 that Machar was no longer a chairman of the SPLM/SPLA-IO citing that his powers were reduced only to his position in Juba, adding that he has no right to command those whom he has abandoned in the bush.
In a statement extended to Nyamilepedia, Duer claims the position of Machar as an interim leader and says he will serve during the interim period along with other unnamed 21 members until the national convention is conducted where people will choose the leader of their choice.
The senior opposition member did not specify on the statement how he made it into power but he stated that they removed Machar from power because of his bad leadership and failure to reach the intended goals of the movement.
“Despite the fact that the SPLM/SPLA_IO is established all over the country and managed to mobilize strong and courageous fighters from all over South Sudan, we failed to achieve our objectives, due to bad leadership and weaknesses of Dr. Riek Machar Teny”, Duer said in a statement.
Duer says Machar is a smart Machiavellian with soft dictatorial attributes who appoints but keep the whole portfolio to his chest.
“Dr. Riek Machar is a manipulator and dictator, he practices a polite and non hostile dictatorship, he appoints leaders to positions but he keeps the assignment but himself”, he added.
Hon. Duer has been a critic of Machar since 2020 when Machar decided to rush to Juba before the implementation of the security arrangements which was supposed to be accomplished first before the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU).
Machar is also facing a wider disintegration of the army as he felt off with the Chief of Staff and the military spokesman recently. The two men have tighter grip over the army than Machar is tethered around the capital, Juba.
The First Vice President had one of the highest popularities in the country in 2013, which put him on a spotlight as a better candidate to replace president Salva Kiir; however, how the military generals and senior politicians deserted the SPLM/A-IO begs more questions than answers.
