SPLM’s losing 2023 polls is unthinkable, says Makuei
The government spokesperson Michael Makuei Lueth has urged the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to prepare for a grueling electoral battle come 2023, saying it will be the best opportune moment to deliver the aspirations of liberators.
Speaking during the swearing-in of two Deputy Governors in Juba on Monday, Makuei, who is the Minister of Information, called on the SPLM to plot on how to clinch majority of seats in the upcoming elections.
Makuei stated that the objective of any other political party is to capture the power and that once the party captures the power, it implements programs, policies and objectives and ‘‘this is what we are after.’’
“We are left with few months to elections (and) we need to make sure that we win. This time will be a hard time for us and you’re under a duty to make sure that you win our members back to the SPLM so that they implement other objectives which have not yet been implemented.”
South Sudan general elections are set to take place in 2023, this being the first time since the 2010 referendum that gave birth to the world’s youngest country. He warned that it would be an embarrassing and historic to lose the poll.
“If we lose it, we will be the first liberation movement to lose the election and that will be a very bad history for us (party) so, you (deputy governors) have serious responsibilities to ensure that we win the election,”
He warned against tribalism, saying the vice had sown the seeds of polarization making it hard to unite the people.
“During the liberation struggle, there was nothing called tribalism. It was not there and that is why we succeeded in liberating South Sudan from the larger Sudan. But with tribalism now, we are divided and SPLM is at risk of collapse simply because of this disease called tribalism. It must be fought and brought to an end,” he said.
According to Makuei, the tribe is not a crime or an offence, but using tribalism as a weapon to achieve your own political goal is an illness.
Reform needed
“So we must join hands and work together. It is by so doing that we will be in a position to achieve the objectives which we have not yet met,” he said
He said while they succeeded in liberating their country; that alone is not enough.
He also urged governors to work hard to reconcile the executive and legislative caucuses so that they do not clash, and that by doing so, they will be in a better position to go forward and achieve their goals.
He did say, however, that without the SPLM, with executive causes flowing one way and legislative causes moving the other; they will not be able to achieve their goals.
