Joseph Bangasi Bakosoro, the Minister of Public Service and Human Resource Development, became the talk of the town after rejoining the SPLM party that he bitterly divorced a decade ago citing frustrations.
In what epitomised analogy of the return of the prodigal son, and arguably the most prominent defection the transitional period has ever seen, Bakosoro, shifted allegiance from his party, the National Movement for Change (NMC), and unapologetically rejoined the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) leaving tongues wagging.
In the SPLM camp, the defection sparked euphoria. The sun almost stood still and political ecstasy gripped the atmosphere. But from the civil society organizations, there was a mild form of criticism. The return of the ‘prodigal son’ back home might be a part of political entitlement.
For a political stalwart who commands organised forces, the timing was wrong as per the content of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and particularly, Chapter II of the truce.
Section 2.4 subsection 2.4.1 of the agreement stipulates, “All the heads of Opposition Armed Groups shall continue as Commander-in-Chief of their forces until the end of the Pre-Transitional Period or until the end of the unification process”.
Mr Bakosoro represents the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) as per the power-sharing deal under the peace agreement. His defection to the ruling party calls for a new political arrangement within the umbrella of opposition parties.
Bakosoro said SSOA can still move on.
“SSOA is not an entity by itself. It is a consortium of a united group of many different parties. So SSOA will continue to operate as an umbrella but each party can make a decision of its own,” he said.
However, Mr Bakosoro is taking with him the ministerial slot he held in the name of SSOA in line with the agreement; a colossal win for SPLM.
“I am not losing (my seat) because that is my property. The property was given to us as NMC. We sell it. We own it. We can move with it as long as the peace implementation is moving forward. This is our property as NMC and it is not for SSOA,” he said.
Defection for peace
The former Western Equatoria State Governor justified his decision to rejoin the SPLM “for the sake of peace and unity of the people of the region and South Sudan in general”.
“Due to the fragmentation of the SPLM party, our people including the youth particularly in Western Equatoria State have been polarised and the whole population in Western Equatoria is divided on political party ideology,” Bakosoro said during his defection press conference in Juba.
“I am taking that political decision on behalf of the NMC family because I want peace and social cohesion among the South Sudanese people and to stop suspicion from the people of Western Equatoria State,” he added.
A civil society perspective
Even though Bakosoro maintained that his actions have no negative ramifications on the fragile 2018 peace deal, the civil society reads a different script.
Speaking to the City Review on phone on Friday, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) Edmund Yakani, warned that the power-sharing deal and other provisions of the R-ARCSS are likely to be affected given that Bakosoro also owns forces of which he is the Commander-in-Chief.
“Politically, he (Bakosoro) has political right to decide of his political identity. The only thing is that paying allegiance to SPLM in terms of the agreement is contradictory. So the interpretation of him paying allegiance to SPLM now, means he will lose the privileges that are enshrined in the agreement under SSOA,” said Yakani.
Mr Yakani also underscored the political and individual rights enshrined in the constitution, believing that such shifting of allegiance or defection should not undermine the peace implementation process.
“I hope the political split and payment of allegiance should drill us in implementation of the agreement. Besides, the leaders should commit themselves to implement the agreement,” said Mr Yakani.
However, his former party members in a press release called on their supporters to remain calm, promising that Bakosoro’s defection would not affect the party’s progress.
“There is nothing wrong with any member of the party leaving to join another party. That being said, however, we would like to assure our members and supporters that the decision of Hon. Bakosoro, former chairman of the SSNMC and those colleagues who joined him in the decision to return to the SPLM party is purely their personal decision for which we are not a part,” partly read the NMC’s press release.
Mr Bakosoro won with a landslide vote during the 2010 general election as an independent candidate against SPLM’s contestant, Jemma Nunu Kumba, now the incumbent SPLM Secretary-General. He later joined the SPLM after becoming the Governor.
In 2017, Mr Bakosoro left the SPLM and formed his party, the NMC following his removal as governor by President Kiir and the subsequent incarceration for months and released without charges.