By Mak Banguot (Mak Johnson),
Sep 26, 2021 — It’s indeed an attention-grabbing to take notice of the same Dr. Riek Machar who used to be in favour of the status coup by the enemy in Juba, proclaiming at last the relapse of the so-called R-ARCSS.
This is what a core of the SPLM/A-IO ‘followers have been calling for the same Dr. Riek Machar to make it as earlier evident to the movement’s followers that the so-called R-ARCSS ‘implementation has never been going on as articulated. Riek Machar would have informed his supporters three months after the commencement of the R-TGoNU in Juba. But he failed to make it!
And, for such a duration of three years in Juba, he (Machar) have been somehow pretentious and cynical in support of the half truths that, “Salva Kiir was doing rights whilst engaging with Machar on the so-called peace implementation”. What convinced him to trust the enemy? How does he come to now realize what he has been doing in Juba is miserably failing? What is now the alternative option for exit?
That has never been the case! After that he came to an agreement with the SPLM-IO leadership which had been calling for early action before finally decided as embodied in the Kitgwang Declaration. Whatever the result of Dr Riek Machar’s political endeavor after Kitgwang isn’t trembling, those of us who have already decided not to wait for Dr. Riek Machar formally announced the last nail on the coffin.
Dr Riek Machar is no longer a decision maker of the movement’s leadership at its subcategory. And, since the Kitgwang Declaration, SPLM/A-IO’s ranks and files have already been takeoff from him.Therefore, he lost his political grounds and/or the very movement (SPLM/A-IO) which he used to be invested with as a family property. The SPLM/A-IO movement’s leadership is being taken over by the Kitgwang Declaration ‘Leaders. The movement’s new leadership structure is up to the generals who, under speedy restructuring and reorganization of the revolution, will carry on the redirecting of the rebellion without Dr. Riek Machar this time. This position is what the SPLM-IO movement under the generals echoing and, it gained support of the movement’s military and political leaderships.
Dr Riek Machar wouldn’t be accepted back to the same socio-political status even if he decided to rejoin the movement in the bush. There are many others reasons associated to the people finally rejected Machar’s failing halfway the victory. We are actually drained of Dr. Riek Machar and his likes. Those who are self-serving aspiring leaders, the few men in Juba with Dr Riek Machar, and only take care only of where their own breads are buttering.
He (Machar) in particular has proved himself to be a leader of ‘’my-way-or-the-highway mindset’’. Such a revolutionary leader who believes in rationalizing poor or unethical conduct of the revolutionary leadership, is unlikely to win…………
- Dr. Riek Machar is a leader who has a meager communication skills, and who does not have any regard for opinions from his comrades in the movement even if those opinions are coming from senior members of the movement with extensive skills and experience in the matter being discussed. As a bad leader, he does not listen to any of his subordinates ‘ opinions or values input from whoever’s proactive within his comrades in the movement. His tradition of contrasting ideas from other people are a pictogram of dictatorial tendency. The mix of dictatorial tendency and traditional political views have made it so easy for Dr. Machar to always oppress people (treating his subordinates like children or less than equal )
- We have been telling the same Dr Riek Machar that, Peace Agreement (R-ARCSS) is humiliating us from the SPLM-IO movement (that the enemy in Juba is not ready and will never be ready to faithfully implement the R-ARCSS)
- Lack of the revolutionary direction, too many people have defected from Machar’s political camp first cited lack of respect and commitment to the revolutionary methods (continuations of an agitations militarily); nepotism and nonexistence of an objective communication through the SPLM/A-IO’s military and political ranks and files. And, according to many of the defectors, it is attributed to Dr Riek Machar’s always invisibility at the faces and ears of his supporters that caused instability within the movement. Nevertheless, many people, if not all, believed that frustration due to the lack of a sounding and an objective communication led to the rampant political disarray.
- Many people (SPLM-IO supporters) remained in an indeterminate state (what has been best described as ‘political dilemma until being awakened by the recent declaration by the Kitgwang Generals. Without clear strategy, Dr Riek Machar lured into the enemy’s destructive environment. Under the enemy’s security supervision, whatsoever related to the Peace Agreement as it was signed being obstructed by the well-known enemy, there is sufficient justification that Dr Riek Machar became a toothless toy for submissive politics. Security arrangement package that served as the intrinsic phase of the Peace Agreement was rejected by Salva Kiir and his tribesmen. Whatever related to the security arrangements in expenses of the SPLM/A-IO forces and political ranks and files has been deliberately compromised in Dr Riek Machar’s watch.
- The SPLM/A-IO ‘revolutionary movement is reminiscent of any others mounting resistance struggles against a sitting political system…….Likewise, the SPLM/A-IO-Led liberation struggle enclosing untold predicament (sufferings) to the ones who have preferred a revolutionary bipartisan. No money, no food, no almost all of the other necessities for earning, whence one is in the bushes………
And, for those of them who don’t put up with the strike of reality they easily give up once subjugated by the thoughts of bearing in mind that, there are some others comrades profiting out of the same cause on which they/you equally contributed equivalent sweat for. (E.g. Now that, after the R-ARCSS signed three years ago, followed by partial establishment of the R-TGoNU,) some very few SPLM-IO ‘members are getting pleasure from alleged peace agreement in Juba. (E.g. those who came with the SPLM-IO Chairman and appointed to the R-TGoNU in Juba are somehow benefitting the dividends in pretext of the peace agreement) whilst the bulk of the movement’s partisans are suffering in the bushes.
And, unfortunately others comrades in all the respective SPLM/A-IO controlled territories languished for three years seeing the peace agreement not being ideally implemented. The movement’s followers continue paying prices of meaningful knowledge of “what is actually going on with an ideal implementation of the peace agreement for three years since it has been signed?”
Lack of objective organizational communication between the movement’s leader and subordinates served as the receipt for existing situational mistrusts.
Revolutionary movement of every kind, in every environment, and at any time is evenly excruciating.
However, revolution can also give hope for future certainties in a corrupt situation like ours in South Sudan today. It works well with the situation where a group of individuals spearheading the struggle are bound by a shared common purpose. Consequently, lack of a political extrapolate to maximizes an endeavour for a common purposefulness, is that shattered the movement halfway. Those caught up in a political mediocrity easily fall short and relinquish.
Nevertheless, SPLM/A-IO was formed by a mix of peoples whose prime’s objectives of waging war against the tribalized prearranged political demagoguery in Juba stridently hold an opposing political view. Amongst them were groups of people with dissimilar instantaneous expectations who have coupled with the movement since 2014 for the reason that, varieties of personal interests obliged them. Meanwhile, the majority who were unknowingly dragged into the struggle simply to facilitate them in an earnings process (searching for immediate political business ‘goals) have already quit Machar’s political camp. This group which has joined struggles whilst under opportunistic influence have before now defected and rejoined the same enemy in Juba.This is because, political expectations were nowhere to be accommodated due to the SPLM-IO Chairman’s unwillingness to expand the movement’s political leadership structures.
Others groups were likewise unwillingly forced to join the struggle to avert being ethnicity targeted (specially, whence at the inception of the war in December, 2013, the Dinka-led government’s tribal militias have been hysterically committing uncountable human atrocities in Juba). This indiscriminate killing forced the populace out of their homes willingly to occupy their residents thereafter.
That mean, the masses displacement of an innocent civilians such as, orphans, vulnerable women and children who, in a multiple locations, are exposing to an hostile environment such as, the PoCs and refugees camp where, infancies children and elderly are succumb to acute human sufferings; gross human rights violations including raps, deliberately vandalized the people ‘livelihood plus their livestock and others sources/means of substance survivability obliged people to chose no other option, but joined the revolution. And, after a short stay with the SPLM-IO movement and, thereafter a person realizes that, the targeted killing and others of its kinds are lowering inside Juba, and then they found no reasons to continue sufferings in bushes and PoCs that deserted back to Juba.
The last group has joined SPLM/A-IO with an objective of liberating people of South Sudan from the Dinka-led genocidal government which encompasses a variety of situations from corruption and deceit. Most of the SPLM-IO followers have joined the movement to stain the country’s most corrupt political status. ( E.g. are the bad governance which is centralised around the idea of not only corruption within the system in Juba, but also, and above all, lack of transparency and accountability, arbitrary policy making and the cheating of the South Sudanese who are governed by the rogue regime.
The last groups have waited for long to see whether there is going to be changes of the leadership style by the movement’s chairman. Hence! The SPLM-IO movement has failed to frame a clear political contact with its followers. Malfunctioning in addressing the separate, often largely subjective challenges within the movement’s organizational structures due to the nonexistence of mechanism, is one that can explain the enormous fatalism marked by the current debate on the SPLM/A-IO ‘political upheavals. Others groups that have joined SPLM-IO movement at its inception in 2014, were built-in (included) the ones who have been indebted to do so by a short-term sentiment of humanity.
Meanwhile, the second group has early fixed with the SPLM/A-IO whence confirmed the rogue regime in Juba was openly implementing its genocidal demagogues that goes aboard on widely predestined indiscriminate butchery of an innocent civilians (specific ethnic community with an ethnically built political agenda.) Those who were only feared of their lives being targeted have also defected.
More importantly, the SPLM-IO Chairman’s administrative setting doesn’t give room for those who want to volunteer on strengthening the movement’s political agitation. Despite the SPLM-IO movement has provided an outlined strategy for working with civil society organizations to promote economic, social and political reform in South Sudan, many of the initiatives aiming at promoting certain kinds of governmental policies (economic policy reform and some others rights for the poor), while others aiming at promoting changes in society and culture (educating children and programs to recruit citizens in promoting democracy and peace in line with the movement’s political agenda) and, all these were to be carried out by SPLM-IO ‘structural social groupings if, indeed, Dr. Machar wasn’t detrimental to the success of his own movement.
At a time when technology, media, and economic progress are empowering people, including non-state actors such as the SPLM-IO movement, politically empowering and amplifying the power of public opinions are more than anything easy through media and other means of medium of communication.
If the Chairman (Machar) were able to use InformationTechnologies as a mean for all types of his communication with the SPLM-IO military units and political structures, then the only problem of Machar squeezed in Juba or elsewhere, and, not able to communicates or meets with his followers would have solved. E.g. If the SPLM-IO Chairman was really serious on reaching out to whoever may remain skeptics amongst his followers, and might be expecting an accurate version of what is really happening currently with the R-ARCSS ‘implementation in Juba, there would be so many means to communicate frequently.
The SPLM-IO Chairman’s failure to engage the movement’s political actors and societies leaves many supporters with unhappy and highly limited alternatives. Everything which the SPLM-IO chairman had to do was a true civilian governing system, including social and cultural attitudes that facilitate informal accommodation and solution of conflicts amongst the movement’s followers and South Sudanese in general.
Without an informal institutions arrangement that could promote consensus, trust, and conflict reduction within the movement’s military and political structures, we can say that it will place an intolerable burden on formal democratic ambition on its own. We believe these experiences were considered by the SPLM-IO leadership, it could offer powerful lessons for reducing conflicts even in the most difficult places and for promoting the trust that is crucial to successful democracies. They connect citizens beyond ethnic, religious, or tribal identity to larger, expanded identities. Institutionalizing connection and engagement of citizens across loyalties by the SPLM/A-IO can provide a powerful antidote to tribalism, encouraging an expanded national consciousness, which is an essential part of nation-building.
Now that, Dr Riek Machar has come to the final stage of acknowledging that the Peace Agreement (R-ARCSS) is formally dead, and therefore echoing to the guarantors in seek for remedial options. Facing with two political bottlenecks (exits strategies and resurrection) after he realized that, people are becoming more and more intolerance, I don’t know what will be his way forward.
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