By William Madouk
Sudan People Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) refuted accusation that the party leadership has lost vision.
Former SPLM-IO party members who defected to join the SPLM party claimed, “the entire party and leadership lost vision”.
However, the defectors’ connotation in their resignation letter, read by John Sebit, that they were “disappointment and frustration under Dr. Riek’s leadership,” have not gone well with his former party members.
In rebuttal, Juol Nhomngek, who serves as a Member of Parliament under SPLM-IO, rubbished all the defectors’ claims, terming it as ‘concoction’ and ‘baseless’ lies against the outfit.
“To begin with, we would like to clarify by stating that the SPLM-IO party and the leadership respect their decisions to defect and join the SPLM-IG,” said Nhomngek.
Mr. Nhomngek, who hails from Cuibet County in Lakes States with majority the defectors, stated that SPLM-IO party has reformed its agenda despite being frantically blocked by the SPLM.
“We however like to state clearly that the reasons they gave as their grounds for resignation from the SPLM-IO are not in place as they are intended to seek sympathy from the general public,’ he added.
He argued that if there are no reform agendas as defectors purported why didn’t they fought for it, rather than joining the party that was resisting changes Machar’s party proposes.
Moreover, he added that SPLM-IO party is not rejecting the election but want basics for free, fair, and credible elections that would be at best interest of South Sudanese.
“the SPLM-IO is fighting for the reforms that leads to the empowerment of citizens to choose the leaders of their choices so that thee scenario of 2010 general where citizens voted for star and referendum rather than leaders is avoided,” he noted.
Nhomngek accused SPLM-IG of using all means to procure all members of the party and leave Machar’s party with one ethnicity so that it would look like a tribal party that does not reflect all tribes.
“In summary, the grounds stated by those who defected are not correct but the real reason for their defections is that they did not come to work for reform agenda in the government under the SPLM-IO.”
He also revealed that those who were holding positions in SPLM-IO and had defected to the SPLM-IG would lose their positions.
“We would like to assure the public that the membership of the SPLM-IO in Lakes State is still intact and the defections of those 22 individuals cannot affect the SPLM-IO party in Lakes State,” he asserted.
Lawmaker Nhomngek was reacting to resignation and declaration of joining Kiir’s camp, who said they shifted allegiance because of the lack of a national agenda under Machar’s leadership, whom they accused of selfish interest and using tactical means to accommodate his relatives in lucrative positions.
They added that the only hope for South Sudanese is to renew their political contact with leaders via elections, however, Machar rejected it in order to continue remaining in power through avoidable extension.
Besides, David Deng, a representative of the SPLM-IO Kitgwang under Gen Simon Gatwech in UK, who defected to the SPLM-IG, cited the same reasons.
Another defector, Chuot Makur, who dumped the People Alliance Movement (PAM) and joined the SPLM, added that he came to support the peace process and election.