“Salva Kiir must resign his positions both as Chairman of SPLM and as President of the Republic or else he will be forced to resign by gallant pro-democracy and freedom fighters” Maj. Gen. Gathoth Gatkuoth
Authored by David Deng Gach Pal,
Updated at 12:35pm, Oct 23rd, 2014(PST)
October 23, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — Following the signing of the “Framework for Intra-SPLM Dialogue” by SPLM-Juba, SPLM IO and SPLM former detainees in Arusha, Tanzania on 20th October 2014, the Military Governor and Zonal Commander of Upper Nile State Maj. Gen. Gathoth Gatkuoth Hoth nyang requests me to bring to public domain his critique of the aforesaid agreement. While some may receive it with optimism, others may perceive it contrary.
Reacting to the Principle number 9, and Objectives 1 & 2 of the Framework Agreement, Gen. Gathoth Gatkuoth said the Framework agreement will never bring peace for its overall objective is merely to reunite the party, reconcile party leadership, and by implication, consolidate Salva Kiir’s grip on power, which he is today losing much more spectacularly. Why giving him a chance to prolong his brutality and devastatingly undesirable rule over people? This casts an air of pessimism over the prospects of peace, stability and prosperity in South Sudan.
If the Intra-party dialogue aims to unite the party, then, that, at least in my view, is unrealistic. “SPLM can never be reunited, and so will not make a reunion,” said the Military Governor, because SPLM failed to resolve its internal crisis in December 2013, and instead Salva Kiir resorted to abusive use of power by trying to purge the party of its charismatic members as well as of democratic voices of reform. To make the matter worst, by using his personal Bhar El gazal militias, Salva Kiir massacred over 50,000 innocent civilians (majority children and women) of Nuer Ethnic group, widening the scope of the conflict into becoming a South Sudanese crisis rather than SPLM.
Objective 1 will not be achieved because reconciling the leadership of the SPLM party failed on December 15, 2013 when Salva Kiir used the SPLM Liberation Council conference to grind the old wounds. No matter how hard others, including the religious leaders, attempt to reconcile the leadership, Salva Kiir will always turn them a deaf ear for him to hold on power. Salva Kiir got into power by accident and he knows he is not qualify to win by democratic majority, why will he allow any reform in the party? It is only when Salva Kiir steps downs from party chairmanship as well as presidency of the Republic can sustainable peace, unity, and universal reconciliation be realized in South Sudan.
Objective 2 is just in the realm of fantasy. How will war be stopped, government and people of South Sudan be led to peace, stability and prosperity if Ebola Salva Kiir is still in power? Salva Kiir’s government has failed miserably to even establish stability let alone prosperity in South Sudan. We need a good public interest-oriented leader to takeover the leadership of the country if SPLM is to achieve such items outlined by objective 2.
Hence, in a nutshell, the Military Governor & Zonal commander, Gen. Gathoth Gatkuoth emphasizes that, for sustainable peace to be attained both by SPLM and South Sudanese people, Salva Kiir Mayardit must resign or be forced to resigned his positions both as the Chairman of SPLM and as President of the Republic. Firstly, he committed genocide on innocent people of South Sudan in December 2013 and thus he has lost legitimacy to rule South Sudan. Should he insists on holding such offices, then be assured that Salva kiir will be made to leave power by force.
Secondly, Salva kiir’s government is institutionally corrupt to the core. Not only did he allocate to his kinsmen and/or Dinka tribesmen all the key positions in the executive, judiciary and oil companies but also allotted watchmen and office sweepers’ positions to his relatives, with oil revenues being divided among Bhar el Ghazalians, close to his family alone, while the people of the rich Greater Upper Nile continue to suffer. Several times, Salva Kiir publicly declared his intolerance towards corruption, but failed to live up to it. He does not only condoned corruption but also ordered release of corrupt officials from prison. Salva Kiir himself is the symbol of corruption in the country. Millions of dollars have disappeared in his hands.
South Sudanese are disgruntled with Kiir’s hypocrisy and lack of integrity. He wants the laws of the land to protect his selfish interests while grossly violating the national constitution unashamedly. In order for South Sudanese to enjoy sustainable peace, stability and prosperity, Salva Kiir must relinquish power, or else he will be forced to resign by gallant pro-democracy and freedom fighters.
Thirdly, to marginalize other tribes, he made a policy of Dinkanisation of all foreign missions as well as Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Heads of missions and senior officials in Foreign Affairs Ministry are mostly Dinka. Such unfair and unjustly corrupt policies will continue to haunt South Sudan if Salva Kiir remains in power.
Thus, intra-SPLM dialogue will do little to save South Sudan that is already divided by Salva Kiir’s self-declared war. From grassroots’ perspective, the overall objective of war is not to seize SPLM powers; indeed SPLM is already divided into separate holdings and so can never be revived. But rather, the objective of war is to bring about total liberation of South Sudanese people from tyranny and dictatorship, endemically institutionalized corruption, tribalism, brutality and hypocrisy of Salva kiir’s leadership in such a way that, once peace is achieved, South Sudanese will never again experience civil war.
General Gathoth Gatkuoth, therefore, advises the international community and regional leaders to remain focus on the root causes of the civil war and listen, not to the lies, propaganda and deceptions of Salva Kiir and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, but to what South Sudanese really want. To achieve lasting peace, Salva Kiir must step down to pave the way for South Sudanese to chose their transitional leader, pending presidential elections at the end of transitional period. The sooner he does that, the better for him and for the country.
David Deng Gach Pal – MPA, MAR
Secretary-General of Upper Nile State Military Government (in Opposition) &
Former Secretary-General (Cabinet Secretary & Head of Civil Service)
Upper Nile State –Malakal
Email: ddgpal@gmail.com
Phone: +254 70413 0000
1 comment
Goodmorning ladies and gentlemen.How many Military Generals are there in South Sudan?It is interesting to learn that every Tom and Dick is a Military General in South Sudan.