SPLM at Cross Roads

Sudan can pride itself for having a huge number of political thinkers and idealists.. problem is there is what vision for the country we are we going to wholly embrace as common source of inspiration for us to move on to a better society? Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, clearly stated personal vision and mission when he was elected in 1994 to lead the first truly post-apartheid government " to carve out new broad space where pulses could settle, enmity subdued and affinities become recast".

We must say we lead his people towards that foundational goal.

SPLM has all the opportunity to the advantage of being a ruling party in the South of Sudan to to carve out a new broader space to settle some if not all the bad war time legacies and recast relationships in ways that will generate hope for a better future.

The problem is that SPLM's vision seems to have deemed a bit amids the daily struggle for the party to rebuild shattered economy, broken relations and built new alliances.

People's perceptions of what SPLM's vision is has got muddled so much that the common man and woman is left to wonder what was it that inspired people to go to war in the first place.

In th daily political conversations and debates which is going on through various media that the current political space could permit, four categories of people are observed displaying equally four broad behavior patterns:

• The Cynics or critics who are more reactive rather than proactive in addressing SPLM and its vision, missions and program; this is f all they have even any of these. They are fence sitters who monitor and evaluate every bit of event or trend and measure the outcomes on the basis of their perception which may not necessarily agree with the reality. Related to this is the reactive behavior is the adviser, the one who was victim or hurt in one way or the other and learned his lessons
  
• The cynics behavior contrast with the bully/aggressive category. This category leaders are proactive in their behavior ad actions; they play 'session leaders' in the debates that are raging today. Closely resonating with this kin of session leaders are the performers, the ones of are fond of showing off their knowledge etc.; the over-talkative

If SPLM's vision and mission tended to get distorted, misrepresented or misreported, it is because the party either not able to address the problems of perceptions and image, two things will determine many things on going political struggle.

In th coming posting I will go on to present SPLM's vision as it is stated in its literature, then I will move on to discuss the divergent perceptions on it, its consequences and what options SPLM as a party a fast growing party particularly in the North can pursue.

But most important, reader, I would like you to share with me your comments and perspectives on this topic

Alesio