The Secretary-General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Peter Lam Both, has threatened to shut down social media in South Sudan.
The threat came in response to claims on social media that the Presidential Envoy on Special Programs, Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel, had been sworn in as the acting president and had ordered the Central Bank Governor to audit the accounts of the first family.
Addressing a press conference at the SPLM House in Juba on Tuesday, Both warned that if such rumors continued the government would shut down social media.
“SPLM is for the freedom of expression and speech, but when it is abused, it becomes a crime. We have the capacity to shut social media in South Sudan. If the social media becomes an anti-SPLM, we will put our hands up and allow those who have the capacity to shut it down to do that,” Both said.
“Even in the region, you don’t have access to social media like we have in South Sudan, and I am not even talking about big countries like China. So, let us not push the button, let us not abuse the freedom of speech, it will end up with you being locked out,” he added.
Both said that in the last few months, there has been a surge on negative propaganda against the SPLM on social media platforms including, Facebook, WhatsApp and X, formerly Twitter
“These campaigns are largely sponsored by disgruntled South Sudanese anti-peace elements and foreign agents and these people are being identified by their computer IP locations. Some are based in South Sudan and others in foreign countries. Their main aims are to discredit the government, create disunity within the SPLM, defame the leaders of our country and develop rifts and mistrust among leaders of the same government and the same party,” he stressed.
“There was a rumor circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook that there was an arranged SPLM meeting to be held in Rumbek, Lakes State, to hand the leadership of the SPLM to Comrade Dr Benjamin Bol Mel. After many calls from members and leaders, we decided to respond to this through our secretariat of information and it seems to have addressed the concern,” he said
“Another rumor came up about the arrest and detention of a senior a general in SSPDF and this scared our people. SSPDF spokesperson, the Press Secretary in the Office of the President and the President himself, had to address this to calm down our people,” Both said.
Another dangerous rumor has again surfaced that Dr Benjamin Bol Mel is now the acting president of the Republic of South Sudan. They brought a picture that was used when Dr Mel took the oath of office as special envoy of the president and used it to execute their designs, he added.
Lam said the authors of the rumors intended to create a serious problem as SPLM members became angry and wanted to find out the truth.
Despite ongoing challenges to freedom of expression in South Sudan, the country’s constitution upholds the fundamental right to free speech. Article 24 clearly states, “Every citizen shall have the right to the freedom of expression… All levels of government shall guarantee the freedom of the press and other media.”