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Lt. General Salva Kiir Mayardit: The Presidency's Over!
By Luke Kuth Dak
30/12/2013
Cde Salva Kiir Mayardit, the President of The Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), had a tone of potential and an opportunity of a lifetime to be a permanent member of an elite league of the world's great leaders. His name could've been easily mentioned in a sentence with an iconic such Nelson Mandela.
Like Nelson Mandela, Kiir spent most of his adulthood fighting to free his people from slavery, oppression, racism and bigotry by successive Khartoum regimes. Most importantly, he led his country to its independence and was subsequently elected the first President of the RSS.
However, the potential and opportunities of becoming a great leader are now slipping away, because the President has chosen to follow not the footsteps of great leaders such as Mandela but clutch arms with the most brutal dictators. Now, if you don't see him hanging around with Sudan's Omer al-Bashir, he's over the phone chatting with Isaias Afewerki, Idriss Deby or Robert Mugabe.
It's so true that ever since Kiir illegally ousted the SPLM's historical leaders, such as Cde Pagan Amum, Cde John Luk Jok, Cde Deng Alor among others, Kiir's actions have been nothing short of treason to the principle on which the party was founded. On any given day, the President is constantly violating his oath of office. "If you don't like my policies,” he was quoted as saying, “go ahead and form your own party."
Also, in a bizarre turn of events, the relations between the RSS and Western nations is a thing of the past. The President was absent from the U.N. General Assembly annual session, but had all the time to visit with his new pal, the ICC most wanted man, Omer al-Bashir.
And so, if you are a concerned citizen of the RSS, you should be very, very worried about the direction of the country we all cherish. In a short couple of years, you'll head to the polls to elect the leader of our nation for the next five years. Unfortunately, that election will be between Cde Salva Kiir Mayardit and Cde Salva Kiir Mayardit.
Here's why:
The President is aware that if the election were to be about his performance and potential, he would be defeated by just about anyone, because he poorly performed during his first term. That explains why he's taken control of the three government branches, not to mention the military for which he's the Commander-in-Chief. Bluntly put, the election won't be a fare game, and no one in his/her right mind would want to take a risk of running against a dictator with so much powers in his hand. The fate will be fatal.
And if the recent events unfolding in Juba are indicative of anything, they indicate clearly that General Kiir's now more determined to use deadly force against those who simply disagree with his regime more than ever before.
Our only choice: Impeach the President.
The author's a former broadcasting journalist & a regular writer for Sudan Tribune, South Sudan News Agency, the Upper Nile times and Gurtong. He can be reached by e-mail at lukedak@hotmail.com.
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