By Ngor Arol Garang
November 3, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — Three leading members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change, led by the former foreign affairs minister, Dr. Lam Akol, officially confirmed their return to the SPLM citing lack of political vision in the new party.
Speaking at Kalkala suburb, west of Khartoum, Hassan Chuol, former member of parliament in the Unity state legislative assembly, said he regrets having departed a people’s party to one lacking political direction.
"The party objectives are not clear to any member except the chairman and this generated lots of questions to many members, even those who have remained behind," he said adding that Southern Sudan is bigger than individual interest.
Two other members of the breakaway party also joined Chuol in returning to SPLM, namely, Malek Cook Dwach Liom, prominent member of the National Council and official member in SPLM-DC’s information department, and Uztaz Jiech Chuol Gai, financial secretary for the student league of SPLM.
"Members thought the party chairman intended real change as the name of the party says," said Chuol. But he said he came to believe that the 2.5 million lives that were lost during the struggle [of the civil war] should not be “sold out” in the last minutes when the future of Southern Sudan is clear.
Chuol said he had been disappointed after a visit he paid to the SPLM-DC chairman at his house in Khartoum where they discussed different topics related to the objective of the party in presence of other people.
"We left very disappointed and with lots of doubts because the party we have joined has no clear direction."
“As a politician besides being co-founder of SPLM-DC, I concluded that the party chair had hidden agendas contrary to the vision in the party’s drafted constitution.”
The formation of the SPLM-DC was being warmly welcomed by many of people across Sudan expecting that changes would be realized as it was being perceived as an independent party reflecting intellectual views. There were hopes that it would enable the Sudanese community to effectively participate in the realization of liberation objectives.
However, some Southern intellectuals rejected this view of the party and insinuated that SPLM-DC was formed in alliance with the National Congress Party (NCP) during Juba University Students Union’s election.
Earlier, Chuol said his hope from the very beginning was that the party would be inspired by the historic struggles of the oppressed people of Sudan, as was adopted in the Basic Rules of the party.
He said that the chairman “deviated from the right cause of our people and gathered weak deputies whose political approach is questionable.” In Chuol’s view, Lam Akol has developed an air of superiority and will not listen to anybody, even sleeping during discussion hours.
(ST)
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