Since the signing of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement that led to the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of the National Unity, we have been hearing of unending defections which the SPLM Party has been parading on the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) Television and other media outlets.

On 9 February, it was reported that about 792 Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) and National Congress Party (NCP) members defected to the SPLM Party in Central Equatoria State. This was highly politicized by the SPLM Party which has the biggest percentage in the unity government.  The SPLM Party is desperate and this is the reason you its Secretary-General welcome individuals or groups that defect from the opposition. 

In October 2023, it was also reported that dozens of members of the SPLM-IO which is led by First Vice President Riek Machar, defected to the SPLM Party in Aweil North County. This was also broadcast on many media houses. In August 2023, it was reported that 35 SPLM-IO officials led by Colonel Padhor Marier Khor defected to President Salva Kiir in Unity State and were welcomed by Governor Joseph Nguen Manytuil who doubles as the head of the SPLM-Party in the state.

Furthermore, in May 2023, it was reported that more than 100 members of the SPLM-IO and sections of the SPLM-IO Kitwang and Agwelek advance team in Juba joined the SPLM party of President Kiir. This was highly celebrated and publicized. Later in the same month, it was further reported that over 750 members of SPLM-IO in Unity State decamped and joined Kiir’s Party.

In March 2022, the SPLM Party acting Secretary-General was reported to have received some SPLA-IO Generals who made statements that they switched camps due to poor leadership.

Many defections are always made public. However, the question is: If members of the SPLM-IO, including military personnel, were defecting at the rate the SPLM Party has been reporting, why is the SPLM Party still campaigning against the SPLM-IO to the extent of even trying to assassinate the latter’s military spokesperson?

What the public should know is that the SPLM-IO is seen to be weak because it is committed to peace while the SPLM Party is out to destroy it by all means. No amount of propaganda can distract the SPLM-IO from its goals which are to achieve peace and radical reforms at the same time. This is not going down well with the SPLM Party whose goal is to make sure that it remains dominant by exploiting the public’s ignorance.

The power of the SPLM Party is public ignorance supported by the use of force and money. Those who are seen as active or threats are either bought or threatened into silence. The SPLM Party sees Dr. Riek Machar as a problem because he cannot be bought to abandon the cause he devoted his life to. On 10 December 2014, Dr. Machar’s historic speech during the Pagak Conference highlighted major issues that underline his struggle for reform in South Sudan.

These include:

1. The SPLM-IO struggles to ensure the institution of a federal system of governance in which political, judicial, and economic powers are devolved to local governments in the states, counties, and payams. This will include establishing 21 states based on the former colonial districts instead of the current 10.
2.  The mission of the SPLM/A-IO is to implement security reforms across all the armed and security forces, police, prisons, Civil Defence Service, and the Wildlife Service in terms of their philosophy, mandate, mission, and objectives. They should also reflect the ethnic diversity of South Sudan in terms of the officer corps, men and women.
3. The SPLM/A-IO is pushing to achieve radical reforms in the judiciary and the justice administration system that will make the courts and dispensation of justice fair and accessible to all citizens. This will also include administrative reforms at the local levels to dovetail the traditional institutions of governance with the state governance institutions for peace and harmony in society.
4.  The SPLM/A-IO’s mission is to institute reforms in the political party system to make parties national rather than ethnic or regional. The SPLM/A-IO stands against the politicization of ethnicity or ethnicization of politics as a means or ladder to power and wealth.
5.  The SPLM-IO under Dr. Machar is struggling to achieve reforms in the civil service by depoliticizing and professionalizing it. The civil service is the backbone of the state. Recruitment, appointments, and mobility within it must always be based on merit, experience, and qualification.
6.  The SPLM-IO struggles to promote economic growth by investing the petrodollars in agriculture to stimulate the surplus potential in mechanized crop production and modernize animal husbandry to transform the enormous livestock from cultural to economic wealth. This includes the introduction of the modern methods of fisheries and aquaculture in the rivers and wetlands as well as organizing and developing forestry and related economic activities including protection of wildlife and flora and fauna for tourism and recreation.
7. The SPLM-IO also plans to build modern physical infrastructure in cities, towns, and villages. Also, to construct inter and intra-state highways, feeder roads, railways, extend power transmission grids, fiber optics lines, and telecommunication networks to link the different parts of the country and to the region and world.
8. Our Movement also intends to construct hydroelectric power generation dams in addition to exploiting solar and wind energy to generate electricity for the speedy industrialization of South Sudan. This will also encourage the private sector as well as private-public partnerships to drive the development of South Sudan.
9. The SPLM-IO plans to eliminate the concentration of powers in the hands of the president and other government officials that were institutionalized on the eve of the independence in July 2011. The Transitional Constitutional of South Sudan of 2011 was used to replace the democratic constitution based on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and concentrated powers in the hands of the president.
10. The SPLM-IO struggles to eliminate corruption which has been a pervasive problem in South Sudan since its independence from Sudan in 2011. The country ranks as one of the countries with the highest level of perceived public sector corruption in the world, according to Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.

His Excellency Dr. Riek Machar devoted his life to the fight against corruption because it affects all levels of government and economic sectors, with most nominally independent institutions captured by the executive branch of government.

The above points are the basis of the ideological orientation of the SPLM-IO that Dr. Machar offered his life to make sure that South Sudanese realize. However, the power of propaganda can sometimes overshadow the strength of the SPLM-IO in South Sudan, which now requires that the public be educated.

The SPLM-IO is partly established on the ideology that deals with accessibility to justice for all citizens of South Sudan. The principal objectives of the SPLM-IO are to build a country based on a just, democratic, secular system of governance, and popular participation of its entire people. Also, to create national consciousness and common purpose through the liberation of the individual and society from all forms of political, economic, and social constraints.

Our Movement also promotes the general well-being of the people. It intends to eradicate poverty and strive to attain sustainable development by advancing the cause of national liberation and freedom for all marginalized people. The other fundamental objective is to plan, promote, and direct economic and social development for the benefit of all.

The SPLM-IO also plans to uphold, protect, and promote the rights of the child, persons with special needs, the elderly, and women by defending and advancing democratic values in the country and ensuring that governments at all levels are representative and freely elected by the people through universal suffrage.

We aim to stimulate and encourage scientific research and adopt appropriate modern technologies by ensuring the implementation of the principle of federalism and devolution of powers that promote democratic principles and practices, and social cohesion through upholding the principles of supremacy of the rule of law and separation of powers.

The movement will also ensure that human rights and fundamental freedoms are enshrined in the constitution and that regional and international instruments are promoted, respected, and protected to enhance participatory democracy and ensure respect for democratic processes and institutions. Along this, we will ensure practices of collective leadership that must ensure justice and equality for all, irrespective of ethnicity, origin, religion, region, social status, or gender. This can in the end enhance accountability, transparency, and good governance that encourage and promote respect for the diversity of the people.

SPLM-IO will safeguard gender equality and promote socio-economic, cultural, and political empowerment of women to realize and ensure economic self-reliance for the people. We also pledge to protect and preserve the environment, ensure sustainable utilization of natural resources, and promote environmental sustainability.

Ultimately, we will protect, uphold, and promote the unity of the people of South Sudan while supporting regional and global peace and security and pursuing an appropriate foreign policy to maintain regional and international cooperation.

In Summary, since the SPLM Party is in control of money and has the power, it can manipulate everything and then turn around to blame the SPLM-IO and other political parties for not being ready for the elections, while in fact, it is the SPLM Party which is not ready for elections.

One thing the SPLM Party and its members must bear in mind is that they are wasting time as the SPLM-IO has come to stay because it is founded on ideology rather than on power and wealth as is the case with the SPLM Party.

What is at play now is the power of propaganda versus the strength of the SPLM-IO in South Sudan. Lies and propaganda have the limit and this is why it is important to educate the public that like Christianity, the SPLM-IO will live forever and will be the dominant party in fifty years to come. Using propaganda will not destroy the SPLM-IO and with time, the public will realize. The majority of those who defect are not members of the SPLM-IO but rather political adventurers who are looking for opportunities and not political ideology.

The writer, Juol Nhomngek Daniel, is an SPL M-IO member of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) representing Lakes State’s Cueibet County. He specializes in Constitutional and Human Rights Law. He can be reached at nhomngekjuol@gmail.com

The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the responsibility of the author, not Radio Tamazuj.