Professor of Politics’ teaches campaign tricks

By John Oywa in Juba, Southern Sudan

It looked like a moment eight years ago when retired President Moi was still in power. The ‘Professor of Politics’, as Kenyans call him, appeared to savour the nostalgia of his days in high office as he strode into the Southern Sudanese Parliament exuding his political grandeur.

Clad in an immaculate cream suit and armed with his trademark rungu, Moi waved and smiled at the ecstatic onlookers, with heavy security in tow. The parliament’s amphitheatre – known as the Blue Room, where members of the Southern Sudan National Assembly had been waiting for him, exploded into excitement as he took up his seat next to President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his deputy, Dr Riak Machar Teny.

Southern Sudanese President Salva Kiir welcomes former President Moi to Juba. On the right is Vice President Dr Riak Machar. [PHOTO:COURTESY]

Drawn from the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Party (SPLM) and several other opposition parties, the MPs and Ministers had suspended their campaigns and other duties to honour Moi who played a vital role in restoring peace in their country in 2005 after decades of bloodshed.

Sense Of Humour

But it was the side-shows at the meeting and Moi’s sense of humour that that fired up the meeting, also attended by the mediator in the Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and top official of Moi Africa Institute, Lt Gen (rtd) Lazarus Sumbeiywo.

After delivering an official speech in which he asked Sudanese politicians to embrace peace and ensure SPLM retained the Presidency in the April elections, Moi turned the meeting into a political classroom as he took the MPs through campaign tricks that kept him in power for 24 years.

Displaying skills from his early teaching days, the retired President employed humour and political experience to take the Sudanese politicians through the tricks of political campaigns.

Laughter and cheers marked his impromptu political lesson that lasted about 30 minutes. Like keen students, the MPs, including Kiir and Dr Machar, listened attentively as Moi lectured them on the dos and don’ts of campaigns.

"I know some of you will come out of the campaigns bruised but don’t lose hope because that is part of the game. You must accept that there must be winners and losers," he said.

Prolonged Laughter

"If you can’t win a voter to your side, use somebody close to him, may be his wife or relative, to seduce him for you," he added sending the MPs into prolonged laughter.

And he seized the opportunity to campaign for Mr Kiir who is defending his seat against a former supporter turned foe, Dr Lam Akol of the splinter SPLM-DC party.

"Look for your votes but please also don’t forget to campaign for my brother President Kiir. He is a good leader," said Moi. He told the MPs that Kenya had immense interest in Southern Sudan because of the role it played in the peace agreement and that unrests in the country would always impact heavily on Kenya.

"I am here as a brother. I came to give you my best wishes as you embark on the electioneering whose outcome will be crucial in the reconstruction of Southern Sudan," said Moi. He added: "I was a witness during the CPA in 2005 and I am happy to see peace creeping slowly into Sudan."

The retired President made it clear he would not like his lessons to go to waste and promised to return before the elections to see if the MPs had gained from his wise counsel. "I will return sometimes before you go to elections just to see how you are faring," he said. President Kiir and the MPs told Moi his lessons had offered them a new vision into politics. They promised a peaceful campaign.

"You are our father and elder. We assure you we will use the campaign skills and advice you have given us to succeed," Kiir told Moi.

Turning Point

MPs, many of them scribbling notes as Moi spoke, hailed the meeting or as a turning point to their political lives. "Your lecture has touched our hearts. We will take your advise seriously because the world is looking at us to see whether we can run a country," said Dr Elias Martin, a minister in the SPLM Government.

Mr Martin Taku, the deputy chairman of the United Democratic Salvation Front party said Moi’s visit was a blessing. "We have been blessed to have our father Moi. We are also happy that he came with Mr Sumbeiywo who stood with us during troubled times," he said. The southern Sudanese capital, Juba is awash with campaign posters, tension and anxiety as the clock ticks towards the historic April elections whose outcome could completely change the fragile politics of the warravaged country.

Peace Keepers

International monitors, human rights organisations, journalists and peacekeepers are trooping to Africa’s largest nation where conflicts have killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions of others.

It will be Sudan’s first multiparty elections since 1986 and the first one since Kenya successfully mediated the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that pacified the North and the South and silenced the guns after years of blood-letting.

Moi flew to Juba to a warm welcome by SPLM supporters on Wednesday to deliver a keynote speech on unity and consensus in the wake of tension packed campaign in the country. Moi encouraged the SPLM team, telling them they had a high chance.

"I expect the SPLM to win with a landslide and form the next Government but help your President to look for votes," said Moi.Moi’s public backing for President Kiir is viewed as an important development in the campaigns given the respect he commands from the Southerners for the role he played in the signing of the Peace Agreement in Nairobi in January 2005. Kiir described Moi as "our elder and our father", saying Sudan would still be fighting were it not for his wise counsel and persuasion that led to the peace agreement.

Moi said President Kiir’s opponent Dr Lam Akol is a stumbling block to the party unity . "The SPLM would have gone to the election as a united front for the sake of peace and any one opposing the party would be judged very harshly by history," he said.

He said Sudan was still fragile and could disintegrate if SPLM politicians allowed election differences and tribalism to divide them.

He added: " You have not achieved what you have been fighting for. I would have loved SPLM to remain a united party to help realise their dream."