Kiir shows his real colours

By Atem Mabior

January 3, 2007 — It is common to hear SPLM leaders accuse their partner the NCP of using the divide and rule policy to dominate the south. These days the SPLM leader Salva Kiir tried the same policy in a futile attempt to muzzle opposition to his bad administration. Any body who happened to come across Kiir would usually describe him as a quiet spoken man but little did they know that the man is a master of intrigues and conspiracies and wickedness.

The latest SPLM ministers reshuffle exposed the dark and dangerous side of Kiir. We will support our allegation by giving you three examples of Kiir’s dirty intrigues.

First, after dismissing Telar Ring for reasons only known to him, Kiir appointed Telar’s father-in-law Ambassador Andrew Makur Thow. Definitely Kiir attempt is to drive a wedge between Telar and his in-law Makur. Normally in the old days, Makur could have rejected the offer to avoid crisis with his in-laws. But as there is moral and ethical degeneration within our society as a result of so many factors, we are surprised today by Makur accepting Kiir’s offer for political accommodation. Many will jump into conclusion that Makur is desperate to have political accommodation this is why he had swallowed his pride and sacrificed his family relationship with his in-law. We had for many years respected Ambassador Makur but this episode has disappointed us.

Second, after months of conspiring with Garang boys to remove Dr. Lam from the government Kiir finally got the courage to announce the removal of Dr. Lam. Of course we all know that the reason for standoff between the SPLM and its partner the NCP was a manoeuvre by the former to get rid of Dr. Lam from the government. There were essentially no substantial issues for the SPLM pull out of government. This is shown by the fact that the SPLM ministers ended their boycott without any tangible gains over their partner. Kiir usual strategy of fitting SPLM members against each other appointed Pagan Amum as minister for Cabinet Affairs a position in which Dr. Lam was appointed. Pagan on his part shamelessly accepted the position irrespective of the intrigues involved. According to Kiir’s conspiracy theory “let the Shilluks fight it out themselves, I care less.”

Third, we also learnt that James Kok who has been appointed minister for Foreign Trade is an in-law to Timothy Tot, the former state minister for Industry. Mr. Timothy was nominated for a ministerial position but for his constructive criticism when the suggestion for the SPLM pull out of GONU was being debated last October, he was dropped and replaced by his in-law James Kok.

These examples expose Kiir as a dangerous wicked man who is ready to go at any length to destroy people’s relationships to serve his selfish interests. Any leader is expected to create harmony not only among his people between among their families. Now Kiir is indulging into destroying family ties of the members of the very party he leads. The question we want to put to all SPLM members is: After all you have heard and seen does Kiir have the moral and ethical turpitude to lead the SPLM and the South in general?

*The author is the head of SPLM Veterans for Truth in Diaspora, London, UK.