Public statement: The defection of Sandra and co.

(20/09/2011, SPLM-DC) On Friday the 16th instant, Ms Sandra Bona Malwal, the Secretary General of our party, and three others held a press conference in Juba in which they declared their defection from the party. If they had left in peace, we would not have bothered about them, but since they chose to level all kinds of allegations against the party and its leadership, we are obliged to set the record straight.

The Build-up to the Defection.

Two days before the group declared their defection, we received reports from a number of party Chairmen in the States that they were contacted by Yien Thiang, one of the defectors, attempting to persuade them to defect with the group. For some time we knew that the group were grumbling about money and lamenting failure of the party to be represented in the institutions of the Government (legislative and executive), but this was the first concrete evidence that they were planning mass defection from the party. We began to follow their moves and got confirmed information that they were going to hold a press conference on Friday.

Just before 11:00am on the same day, Sandra and Deng Bior drew a sum of 13.8 thousand SSP from the party’s account in Juba and proceeded to the press conference.

It is worth noting that when the party HQ moved to Juba, Sandra as the Secretary General, made a reshuffle of the General Secretariat in which Yien Thiang was removed from the Secretariat of Finance to be replaced by Deng Bior. Yien made a fuss out of this step and wrote to the Chairman to reverse the SG’s order of reshuffle. The Chairman replied to him that it was within her prerogative to do so and that in any case if there were to be a complaint it must be rendered through her. He brooded over this and, no doubt, it was the main reason for his defection. This is what he calls being brushed off like a child!

Since Sandra took office, the three of them have been at loggerheads over money. They were brought together by their sponsors in this project of defection.

The same day, that is, on the 16th of September, Sandra sent her resignation letter to the Chairman through the internet. Yien chose to deposit his resignation at the SPLM-DC website, whereas Deng Bior continued to deny that he was quitting until he appeared at the press conference. He later confided to some in the party that he was under physical threat and might have lost his life if he did not quit the party!

The Secretary General’s Resignation Letter

The resignation letter of the Secretary General cited only personal reasons for her resignation. That she needed to pay more attention to her children and women activities and wished SPLM-DC well. Nothing political, whatsoever, came in that letter. The letter is attached.

The question that arises is: when did she come up with the allegations she made at the press conference?

Yien Thiang’s Resignation on the Internet:

Yien Thiang mentioned that he disagreed with the Chairman on his management of the party and especially on security matters and that he was being brushed off like a child! However, he concluded by hoping that as former colleagues people should treat themselves without hard feelings. Yet, he was the first to heap insults in his press conference on the same colleagues. His internet resignation is also attached.

What are the Facts?

Having explained the circumstances of and the build-up to the defection we turn our attention to address four important issues related to their allegations.

1. The Issue of Security.

Right from the formation of the party, the SPLM has been accusing it of sponsoring militia, an allegation we have consistently rejected. When our party was banned in South Sudan in 2009, we took the matter to the Constitutional Court and no evidence to the claim was produced before the Court by the SPLM/GOSS, and that was why we won the case. The allegations continued with all kinds of freaks and charlatans being displayed on television but nothing concrete was produced to prove the case of the SPLM.
To have credibility in the eyes of the South Sudan people, the defectors must produce insiders’ evidence to their allegation of sponsoring militias, since they held high offices in SPLM-DC and were running the day-to-day affairs of the party.
Yien’s claim that the Chairman has not produced a satisfactory explanation about the security issue is turning the well established legal principle upside down. “The burden of proof lies with the accuser”. What has an innocent person to say more than that he is innocent?
One must be careful in talking about “security reports”. The mighty USA reported to the UN in 2001 with detailed slides about the weapons of mass destruction it claimed Iraq was stockpiling, only for the world to find out after the invasion that there was no trace of any!
2. Democracy in the Party.

SPLM-DC is guided by its Basic Rules that set out the operation of the party and defines its institutions and the procedures of the same. These institutions have been working and we pride ourselves to be the only party that held the meetings of the National Council regularly. The same applies to the National Executive Committee which held about 50 meetings in the life span of the party of just two years. These bodies have been setting the policies of the party. The party Chairman does not adopt policies on his own. It is therefore absurd for the defectors to allege that the Chairman was not clear on the policies to be pursued by the party .

Our weakest link has been and still is the General Secretariat. The outgoing Secretary General, like her predecessor, has been wanting politically, weak administratively, lacked initiatives and was concerned most about money. In fact, she never had contacts with the party Chairmen in the States! She believes that the party must meet her insatiable lust for money, hence her resignation and running away with the party’s money. No principled politician will be involved in thievery. Good riddance!

As a matter of fact, in the 3rd session of the National Council, some members, who cannot be said to be her opponents, wanted her removed for her incompetence. It was the Chairman who advised against such a move on the grounds that she was then only six months in office and should be given more time to improve her performance. She did not.
3. Finance

SPLM-DC operates on the principle that “for the party to operate properly it needs financial resources. However, the party should not cease to exist if it is hard of cash”. In other words, we spend money when we have, and endure when we don’t. This obvious reality does not get into the heads of Sandra and company. Let us hope they will find their El Dorado where they are going to now.

We do not want here to talk about financial accountability as all the four have been involved in cases of mismanagement and embezzlement. If they force us to go public on this matter we will.
4. Change

Our party has committed itself to “Change”. And this is a very difficult undertaking. Hence, those who joined the party as an easy way of getting government positions must by now have realized that they boarded the wrong train. This is why they are disembarking. It is not that we do not want to occupy government positions, but our participation must be in such a way to bring about change our masses are yearning for.

The defectors could not see this point. They were grumbling that we cannot stay indefinitely in opposition!! They forgot we are just two years old. In any case, even if we were to be ready to take government positions, nothing was offered. So, why blame ourselves.

Conclusion

The defectors left the party driven by personal frustrations and disappointments coupled with fear that was instilled in them by their handlers in order to achieve what they are aiming at. The allegations they leveled against us at the press conference did not come in their letters of resignation and must have been given them by these handlers. No defection to the SPLM will be complete and acceptable to them without accusing the SPLM-DC of sponsoring militia and undermining the South. It is a familiar song! The statements of these turncoats must be understood in this context.

This defection is not in isolation. It comes hot at the heels of the well-publicized “defection” from the UDF and “taking over” of UDSF, and will not be the last. In fact, the only time any of the credible political parties get space on SSTV is when some group within it is “defecting” or “taking over”! We have said it time and again that the SPLM is bent on eliminating the parties that do not rotate in its orbit.

As to the defectors, our party has tried its best to give them chance to prove their worth, coming as they did from obscurity. However, one can take the horse to the water but cannot force it to drink. Nature tells us that every object will always fall to its level.

Needless to say, such defections purge SPLM-DC of the weak-kneed hangers-on. The tremendous pressure our party and members are currently undergoing is like subjecting metals to intense heat; it only enhances their purity. The wind of change will continue to blow away the chaff from the wheat both internally and externally.

Forward with the People,
Together we shall win.

The Information Department,
SPLM-DC.