By William Madouk
The Presidential Advisor on Special Programs, Benjamin Bol Mel, has dispelled rumors that President Salva Kiir was to hand him the top seat as the head of state planned to travel abroad for treatment.
“I respect my superiors; I do respect my country, the system, the leadership, and I’m intact I don’t go around people,” said Bol Mel in the press conference today.
“So, if you don’t know me, you just have to know me today. I do respect my superior system, and I’m not jumping,” he added.
Bol Mel, who doubles as the First Deputy Secretary General of the SPLM on Political Affairs, Organization, and Mobilization, noted that a country cannot be built on social media.
“This is a total destruction when you use such media to distract the nation, set up confusion,” he stated.
“That’s very negative. You need to be very careful about what we say in the media. Therefore, the country cannot be built by those people whose work is just revolving around negative media propaganda,” he continued.
His part, the Secretary-General of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Peter Lam Both, said that in the last few months, there has been a propaganda surge against the government on social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and X, formerly known as Twitter.
“These campaigns are largely sponsored by disgruntled South Sudanese anti-peace elements and foreign agents, and these people are being identified by their computer IP locations,”
“Some are based in South Sudan, and others in foreign countries. Their main aims are to discredit the government, create disunity within the SPLM, defame the leaders of our country, and develop rifts and mistrust among leaders of the same government and the same party,” he stressed.
Mr. Lam dismissed the alleged SPLM meeting to be held in Rumbek, Lakes State, to hand the leadership of the SPLM to Comrade Dr Benjamin Bol Mel.
“Another rumor came up about the arrest and detention of a senior general in SSPDF, and this scared our people. SSPDF spokesperson, the Press Secretary in the Office of the President, and the President himself had to address this to calm down our people,” Lam explained.
“Another dangerous rumor has again surfaced that Dr Benjamin Bol Mel is now the acting president of the Republic of South Sudan. They brought a picture that was used when Dr. Mel took the oath of office as a special envoy of the president and used it to execute their designs,” he added.
Lam said the authors of the rumors intended to create a serious problem as SPLM members became angry and wanted to find out the truth.