The lies about cards buying in the lakes state

We issued earlier today a press release refuting the allegations peddled out in the media by the authorities in the Lakes State about an alleged buying of registration cards by an SPLM-DC member. This evening, the same authorities appeared on the SSTV repeating the same baseless allegations dragging in the good name of SPLM-DC.

We had earlier advised those authorities that if the allegations were true, they should follow the legal procedures against the accused as an individual, i.e., carry out the necessary investigations until the facts are established. Then, and only then, would a statement on the case be released. By insisting on using the media and continuing to drag the name of SPLM-DC into this soddy lie, these authorities have left us with no choice but to respond.

In the first place, our member, Isaac Akot Dobo, the Chairman of SPLM-DC in the Lakes State, was arrested by the Commissioner of Wulu County in the house of a relative of his who was the Chief registration officer in one of the registration centres in the county. He and not Akot was the one who owned the registration cards. To keep them in his house is illegal and we have sensitive information as to why he was keeping such cards in his house and our sources suggest that they were being kept with the knowledge of the Commissioner. Cde Isaac was arrested by the Special Branch and not the Police in that house and dragged into custody together with the cards. Then followed the wild allegations that he was caught with 909 registration cards that he bought from the citizens!!! Some obvious simple questions impose themselves: How many people complained or were caught selling their registration cards to him? Can such a huge number of cards be bought in two days in a small place like Wulu? Since the names and thumb prints of the persons concerned are shown on the cards, why aren’t they arrested and displayed in public? More fundamentally, for what purpose would Cde Isaac Akot buy the cards? The authorities claimed that he and SPLM-DC wanted to disrupt the referendum. But, how? This disruption could happen in one of two ways. If the idea was to deny those people from voting, then this must be the height of ignorance, for even if one does not carry a registration card he/she could still vote, provided he/she could produce an identification or be identified; conditions which were needed to issue the card in the first place. The registration card simplifies the procedures but is not a necessary condition for voting.

If the act was to vote on behalf of the persons concerned, how would that be done in view of the strict observation and the indelible ink? So, in either case, it would have been a futile exercise not worth the money, effort and time put on it. The truth of the matter is that the whole story is a fabrication intended to settle personal scores and smear the good name of the SPLM-DC by those who joined the separation camp at the eleventh hour. It is an open secret that the Commissioner of Wulu County holds a personal grudge against Cde Isaac Akot since the latter joined SPLM-DC and worked hard for it in the last general elections. This unfolding theatrical behavior is part of this personal vendetta. But, they picked up the wrong case at the wrong time. The wrong case, because it is the leadership of SPLM-DC that put self-determination back into the political map of Sudan at a time when some quarters were priding themselves of having shot the first SPLA bullet against the separatists! If those quarters have become converts to separatism, then they should be humble enough to respect those they found in that field. To allege that SPLM-DC could spoil the referendum is not only preposterous but is like a loving mother strangling her child. The message of SPLM-DC in this referendum is crystal clear all over the South. Why would this tiny Wulu be an exception? It is the wrong time to manufacture such lies, because we thought the South-South reconciliation last October has opened up a new page of cooperation between the SPLM and SPLM-DC that left behind the bitter past. It appears the authorities in Lakes State still labour under that past. This cheap propaganda will not help. Our concrete information is that Cde Isaac Akot Dobo is being held incommunicado and subjected to severe torture. We demand that he be handed over to the police, investigated and either brought to a public trial or be set free. The authorities in Lakes State should stop forthwith trial through the media so that justice may take its course. The people whose registration cards are alleged to have been bought must also be investigated as it is also an offence to sell these cards. You should stop abusing the intelligence of the people of South Sudan.

The Information Department SPLM-DC.