‘Brief Case’ And ‘Family Clubs’ Are Not Political Parties. A response to Dr. Okuk!! on Multi-party not Multi-People Democracy
09 May 2011 By Jimmy Ociti* Dr. Okuk, the Equatorian Diaspora are right in writing the petition intended for the duly elected Members of Parliament of South Sudan legislative assembly. I am one of the Equatoria Diasporas who have already appended the signature to see into it that the petition holds. Political parties are valued by the number membership it commands; therefore the various political parties within Southern opposition are either ‘brief case’ parties or ‘family based clubs’ branded as political parties. Equatorian Diaspora tabled a strong case that seeks the cooperation of the Legislative Assembly elected in 2010 to address the various queries. Equatoria has come as a region not as a tribe therefore; we like all the other regions would like to have a constitution that will protect the interest of all people and regions in Southern Sudan including you. In the history of constitutional making process, never have we ever had a constitution drafted by one party or political parties only. But by representatives of various institutions/ groups of interest and in this case Equatoria Diaspora falls under that. Dr. Okuk, your act of pushing for political parties (political elite driven document/draft) constitutional process is not far from that of the SPLM, the SPLM who drafted the constitution single handedly, without various interest groups. Dr. Okuk, you and the political class should know better, that a constitution is not a memorandum of understanding between political parties but a document meant to protect the interest and aspiration of a people desired to be governed and protected by the sacredness of that document. Dr. Okuk, the fact that ‘brief case’ or ‘family club’ parties came together to work towards a successful referendum does not warrant a reward of an election in 2011, but this shows how power hungry these parties are. For any opposition political party in South Sudan to show maturity, I expected the political parties to demand for a comprehensive constitutional review Commission instead of crying for a shorter interim period or positions in government. We all know that there are about twenty-four political parties in South Sudan but none can prove membership beyond their founder’s villages if am not mistaken. Therefore these political parties should prove that they are really working for the interest of South Sudan not scratch my back and I yours 'policy'. Dr. Okuk, concerning ‘permanent constitution’ you must know that the current constitution is an absolute abrogation of democracy but you are not making it better by demanding every single time for elections or going against the Equatorian Diasporas’ petition. You should instead sign the petition to enforce a call for an independent body to work on the constitution. Once again you have failed the test of democracy by saying that the government of the day has to establish a constituent Assembly to work on a non-partisan constitution. Dr. Okuk, the way forward for a democratic constitutionalization is by having the current legislative Assembly, the political parties, and various interests groups, including the civil societies select members, to work on the constitution, as this would mean it is owned, written by all, therefore a people’s driven document/process. Dr. Okuk under what mandate does the SPLM have in sharing powers with the other political parties? You as a member of SPLM-DC cannot prove to me that you have membership of your party far and beyond. The current government in South Sudan is even straining the budget of the young nation, no need for power hungry club members in the government, if you really care about South Sudan. Please Dr., demand services and act under the mandate expected of an opposition not power hungry processes. Dr. Okuk, your demands are egoist to say the least because none of the parties have even dared to talk about the economy, the dilapidated health care system, education except appointments. The opposition parties need to learn what are their roles not only demanding for political positions. Therefore there are no differences between the acts of the SPLM drafting a party constitution as the nation’s constitution to the option presented by the opposition spoke’s man Dr. Okuk. If the political elite have the aspiration of the people at heart, then they would constitute an independent Constitutional review Commission. *Jimmy Ociti is a Political Scientist Posted in: Opinions -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
