Taban’s acquittal an example of double standard treatment of SPLM members

Atem Mabior

SPLM Veterans for Truth in Diaspora

In our earlier articles we did draw our readers’ attention to president’s Kiir indecision and lack of consistency when dealing with government and party issues. Kiir seems to lack direction but just muddling, meddling and mang-manga. No government can be managed this way even in the most backward societies. Two examples prove our point. The first is the dismissal of Telar and Aleu. The second one is the case of Governor Taban Deng. The contrast in these two examples is so clear that even if you are a blind supporter of president Kiir you might risk telling him, sir you are wrong this time round.

Telar, a senior member of the SPLM and a close confidant of Kiir thought, wrongly or rightly, that the SPLM Secretary General (SG) was undermining the party Chairman and announced his candidature in the post of SG in the up coming party .Convention. Cde Aleu, another confidant of president Kiir, on his part suspected that our sisterly Uganda might have played a foul role in the untimely death of our leader Dr. John Garang. These are the charges against the two gentle men. If there are other charges they have not been brought forward. Chairman Kiir formed a committee to look into the allegations made by the two gentlemen who on their part objected to the inclusion of two members of the committee. Under the SPLM basic rules they have a right to reject some or all members of a committee if they thought their right would be jeopardised. The only administrative action the Chairman could have done was to replace the members who were the subject of the complaint. But since the South is a land where wonders do not cease to happen, Kiir basing his decision on a false report by the investigation committee and ignoring all the SPLM basic rules and procedures, dismissed Telar and Aleu. There was no investigation made neither were the two members offered an opportunity to defend themselves. Can any one say justice was done? And yet some confused intellectuals like Dr. “Cingoth” have the guts to appeal to Southerners to rally around an unjust leader like Kiir? What is wrong with us Southerners? Why do we always want to build dictators? Amazingly, it is not Dr. Cingoth alone who blindly supports Kiir’s dictatorial tendencies these days. Even renown southern Sudanese journalists do. Is that not an example of the “politics of the belly” that Jean Francois Bayart talked of? Intellectuals and journalists are among the vanguards who should always stand up for democracy and fundamental freedoms. But generally as we have experienced, southern intellectuals are driven by egoistic interests and do not dare to investigate the cause of things. They consider everything they read or hear, particularly from “Zol Kabir” as gospel truth. Support and criticism on particular matters are usually built around personalities instead of around issues.

As for Governor Taban, he had two charges. One is the allegations filed against him by MPs and citizens of his state. The second is his abuse of the Vice President of GOSS and the First Vice Chairman Dr. Riek Machar. On the first charge President Kiir as usual formed a ministerial committee. That was the first error that Kiir made. Cases of corruption are not investigated by ministers but by the auditors. But Kiir had a reason for doing exactly that and that is to kill the issue. As expected the investigation committee found Taban not guilty. A triumphant Taban flew for a holiday to Dubai and with him, guess what, you can’t believe, members of the investigation committee that acquitted him! This reminds us of a joke told to us by a politician that during Numeiry’s regime he used to tell his ministers that “any one that does not get rich during my tenure will never get rich in his life”. Against all historical assumptions, history is repeating itself in our very eyes. Kiir’s ministers, Governors and Commissioners are getting rich at the expense of the poor people of Southern Sudan . Is any one listening, hello there?

The most dangerous episode is Kiir’s ignoring of Taban’s abuse of his Vice. We are convinced that Kiir lacks a functional hindsight. How could he so quickly forget that he had just dismissed his two “beloved confidants” for even lesser crimes than Governor Taban’s? If you don’t believe us we have a big problem in Southern Sudan !