To: Hon. Dr. Martin Elia
Chairman of South Sudan Democratic Forum
Juba, South Sudan
Date 24/8/2006
Subject: Demand For Your Immediate Resignation
Dear Mr. Chairman,
We, the undersigned members of the party, are hereby writing to you once again concerning the way our party is being run. We sent you a letter in May requesting your leadership to call a meeting of National Executive Committee to dismiss Mr. Bona Malwal Madut from the party.
For reasons unbeknown to us, you never responded to our letter. We just heard in Khartoum from Mr. Bona Malwal that he would take legal action against the signatories of the letter. We don’t know any legal principle of contract law that would support his argument to sue members of the party who have constitutional right to demand his dismissal. In United States, there is no judge who would hear a civil law suit against people who just exercised a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. The same legal reasoning of protecting a constitutionally guaranteed right is also widespread in the Sudanese legal jurisprudence.
Mr. Chairman,
It is our privilege to bring to your attention the existence of the gang of five in our midst masquerading as members of National Executive Committee. These gangs of five are Mr. Bona Malwal, Mr. Akuei Bona, Mr. Mayom Malek, Mr. Wani Jada and Col. Bol Gatkuoth. These are men who serve interests contrary to our party. Keeping them is no less than keeping Unabomber in the party. Each one of them has his own baggage of troubles for our party.
Col. Bol Gatkuoth, as you already know, works for Sudan military intelligence as a liaison for giving them information about our party secrets. Before going Sudan, he worked for Sudan external security. After arriving in Khartoum, his masters realized his importance as somebody who should give them secrets of the Government of South Sudan (GOSS) since he is already a member of parliament. The military intelligence deposits money in his bank account in London every month.
Mr. Bona Malwal does not need introduction. He is the shadow chairman of the SPLM party as well as chief of Twic Mayardit section. His main aim is to paralyze the Democratic Forum to the point where the SPLM would feel secure in the coming election. You have already witnessed his threats of legal action whenever some members of the party call for a convention.
Mr. Chairman,
It is our solemn duty to remind you that if South Sudan Democratic Forum is a party that wants to win election in 2008, it needs reorganization under new National Executive body that would be nominated in a national convention. However, the gangs of five need to be relieved from their duties before the convention so that the party would be able to keep its secrets. Every time the NEC meets, other parties get information before the ink dries because of their presence. Every reasonable person would find it difficult to tolerate such obvious violations of party rules by the people we thought are trustable.
You have seen the SPLM party boasting of being ready for the coming election not because the public is on their side but due to the fact that they infiltrate the Democratic Forum through the gangs of five. We heard Bona telling Gogrial elders in Khartoum that Democratic Forum would not even win a village in the election. He is right because he knows how he is destroying the party by using you as a surrogate to smother democracy.
We would like to tell you that the mere presence of Bona Malwal in the party may cost us votes in the election because Southerners do not want to hear his name. You cannot blame our people who heard the names of Southerners being behind the conspiracy for the murder of William Deng Nhial. Dr. Garang revealed the secret to all South Sudanese in 2001. That was the reason why Bona told some members of our party members at Heathrow Airport that he was going to Sudan to attend Garang’s funeral “to laugh at his dead body”. During election, this statement can be used by other parties against the Democratic Forum in Greater Bhar el Ghazal. It is therefore wise to tell President Kiir that Bona is the shadow chairman of SPLM only.
Mr. Chairman,
In times like this, a courageous man who wants to see his party in power must take bold decisions. President Richard Nixon had to resign from presidency to save his party in public image. We believe you are a man of courage like him who would take the same bold decision to save our party from perdition.
There is nothing that will affect your ministerial position. You would resume your duties in the GOSS as a Minister until election. With the reorganization of the party under a new chairmanship, there is a possibility of us winning election letting you to have a position in the post-election government.
Mr. Chairman,
A political party generally refers to an organization that mobilizes voters on behalf of a common set of interests or ideologies. Parties play an important role in political life by setting policy agendas, nominating candidates for public office, monitoring the work of elected representatives and organizing and directing human and material resources toward a common goal.
In Western democracies, political parties emerged at the end of an extended process, growing out of craft guilds, professional associations, local government and interest groups. In some developing countries, parties have grown around a particular leader or leaders or as the outgrowth of a civic movement to change the governing system. These parties face the additional challenges of developing and solidifying a party identity and constituency and developing party discipline within the legislature. These parties in the legislature may have little experience in being held accountable to voters and may have few resources to establish internal party structures to organize legislative and policy-making processes.
We found civic organizations here in the U.S. that are ready to finance our party to win the next election. These are the same organizations that helped the opposition parties in Ukraine and Georgia to defeat the incumbent parties. However, they need our party reorganization before giving us any financial support. They are even willing to send people to train our cadres about democracy and how to win public opinion. But our efforts would not yell fruits if the gangs of five are still lingering because they will reveal our secrets to other parties making our plans known before reaping their benefits.
Mr. Chairman,
We feel that the alleged suspension of the U.S. and Canada branches would serve as the 21st C blunder to democratization in Sudan. The committees who are publicizing the Democratic Forum and look for friends to fund the party did it out of democratic ideology. You don’t pay the representatives in Canada and the U.S. But they are doing the work because of their strong commitment to liberal democracy. Anyone who thinks of relieving volunteers from doing their work is no less than an enemy of the party. We believe you are not an enemy of the party since you are not part of the decision made in Khartoum by the gangs of five.
However, there is a principle that failure to exercise one’s authority may mean acceptance of the reign of evil. Your inability to come out publicly to condemn the gangs of five for the alleged suspension may trigger a lot questions. Members of the party may even wonder whether we are having a fifth column as the chairman of the party. Others may think that SPLM’s money is in charge of the party.
The only sure way to disprove your critics is to summit you resignation to NEC. We do get reports from members of parliament in Juba that you spend more time in the bar with Justin Yac Arop. If you think you need more time to relax, then we think it is time to let someone else run the party. The SPLM Secretary General’s job is to organize their party. He has no other job besides that. We need the same thing for our party.
We therefore decided, in no uncertain terms, that you should resign from the party chairmanship. Our party will find a caretaker who will temporarily head the party until the national conventional takes place.
Yours truly,
1. Mr. Peter Arok Yak.
2. Mr. Robert Kisanga.
3. Mr. Samuel Madut Malwal.
4. Mr. Peter Chuol Gai.
5. Mr. James Lumoro Udhuo.
6. Madam Rebecca Nyayual Tut.
7. Dr. John Lomodong Peter.
8. Mr. William Nyuon Gatluak.
9. Madam Elizabeth Sitona.
10. Mr. Charles Othow Akuan
For Contact:
Peter Arok Yak
Signatories Committee Chairman
Email: [email protected]
U.S.A.
