Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
January 15, 2010 (JUBA) – The Political Bureau of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has announced the incumbent chairman of the party, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, as the candidate for South Sudan presidency.
Earlier, the party nominated Saeed Yasir Arman as its flag bearer to contest against President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir and other opposition parties’ candidates.
Salva Kiir took over the party’s chairmanship after the untimely death of late Dr. John Garang de Mabior in a helicopter crash on 30th July 2005.
He refused to contest for the national presidency position, signaling his interest for the presidential seat in the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan.
The next step is for the SPLM to submit the names of the candidates to the National Elections Commission (NEC) in Khartoum who will finally endorse or reject the candidates based on their qualifications and requirements.
One of the requirements is that an aspirant serving in the army must first resign from the army prior to the NEC approving his or her candidacy.
Kiir is currently an active army General in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and heads the recently formed military Command Council, composed of more than 40 senior SPLA officers, and also he is the Commander-in-Chief of the army by his being the President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS).
An official of the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan has ruled out any possibility of General Salva Kiir Mayardit stepping down from the army even if he is nominated as SPLM candidate for presidency.
The minister for Presidential Affairs, Dr. Luka Biong Deng, who is a close aide to Kiir on Wednesday, said Kiir’s candidacy would not need him to step down as commander-in-chief.
Dr. Biong argued that the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan, 2005, stipulates that the President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) shall be the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and if Kiir was nominated for GoSS presidency he would not step down as Commander-in-Chief.
Biong however did not further explain whether Kiir would still wear military uniform with his active rank as General in the army or be stripped of the military uniform and contest like a civilian if nominated.
The Sudan’s national Interim Constitution, 2005, requires aspirant candidates, who serve in the army, civil service and as judges, to first resign from their professions before their candidatures are approved by law and allow them to run for political positions.
The Southern Sudan interim constitution is however silent about what the aspirant candidates for political positions, while actively serving in the army, should comply with during elections.
There was no body available for comment in the government’s legal institution to explain the implications of the Sudan’s national interim constitution and the national elections law over the Southern Sudan interim constitution when dealing with issues of national character such as the elections.
During the GoSS formation in 2005, all the draft constitutions of the ten Southern Sudan states including the Southern Sudan Interim Constitution had to be taken to Khartoum for approval by the national legal body to make sure that they were compatible with the Sudan’s national interim constitution, 2005, pending their final enactment by the respective parliaments in the South.
Questions in the minds of many people that are left to the legal experts to answer include which law (national and Southern Sudan) is supreme over the other when it comes to the national issues such as the elections, or whether the National Elections Act only partially applies to the South and leaves the electoral process of Southern Sudan presidency to the constitution of the South.
It also remains to be clear whether the National Elections Act, 2008, which requires that a candidate first steps down from the army, in order to run for the elections, can equally apply to both national and Southern Sudan candidates at all levels.
Currently, Southern Sudan High Elections Committee based in Juba, which is a branch of the National Elections Commission in Khartoum, also requires that all civil servants, judges and those serving in the army in Southern Sudan and aspire to run for political positions should first resign from their incumbent professional jobs if finally nominated as candidates.
Bashir on Monday stepped down as chief of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in compliance with the requirements of the National Elections Law, 2008, and the Interim Constitution of Sudan, 2005.
Gatwech
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
Ahahahahaaaaa….This is a joke!
SPLM is not serious about winning elections in both North and South!!!
Yasser Arman and Salva Kiir are currently very unpopular leaders in the SPLM. No body in the South would vote for Yasser Arman, another Jellaba (northerner) who is wanted criminal and joined the SPLM because he killed some body in the north, and is also against the separation of the South from the North. He has no popularity in the North itself.
Well, to be realistic dear Southerners, Salva Kiir will face very and very tough challenges ahead of him. NEC may reject his nomination based on many factors. And even if NEC leaves him alone in this crash nomination, he will not get enough votes in the South to win the election.
Majority of the people of South Sudan are fed up of Kiir’s poor leadership and are not ready for another five years of corruption, tribalism, land grabbing, incompetence, visionless, lack of development, insecurity, etc under the poor tribal leadership of Salvatore Kiir Miyerdit.
Mark my words, folks, Kiir will NEVER be sworn in as the next ELECTED President in the South!
Trueman
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
Dinka is the oxygen of the South!
Kiir’s nomination shows that we the Dinka hold the key to anyone’s future aspiration.
Like it or hate it still you remain glued to Dinka.
Gäär
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
ahahahahhahahahahhhahhahahahhhahahahahahhahahahahhhahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahhhhhhhhhahahhahahahahahhahahahha.
ci dung da ret ke tok!!!!!! Gaat jangni bia lac e cia je bi nyok, guathe bi lielun we thino. doar e coali kiir e thiele guath mi we thin ke hoo ci electoral commission e bi nhok! ahahahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahhahah
ngac yien ni hoo dong cia kuar kan, kuic yiene cia ro bar ka rodun lielun!!!
mi caa ku kuany ela kuar e pati doari dun emo, thiele rami bi bot ke je ka south sudanese! ce ku goa elong……han nhoaka kor mi taa thin e ter han a! Gaat jangni bia lac tet ka da!
SPLA
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
I guarantee that Kuol Manyang will be nominated as SPLM candidate for Jonglei Governor. Just watch!
SPLM
Gatwech
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
Dear readers,
Incompetent Salvatore Kiir Miyerdit has a long list of disqualification.
Well, Dinka Boy and the likes you called Gen. Paulino Matip illiterate? Gosh, he knows how to fight more than Kiir and that is what the army needs.
But Kiir’s nomination will be rejected by NEC and one of the factors will be his being semi-illiterate. He doesn’t have a university degree even a diploma. And the law wants some body with a diploma, atleast!
The 100,000 dollars worth honorary doctorate which he bought in Kenya will not rescue the situation. And of course you don’t get PhD first outside of university and before you get Bachelors and Masters.
Kiir has a long list of disqualifications waiting for him at the NEC in Khartoum and at the Sudan Constitutional Court.
I believe he will resign and withdraw from his candidacy soon, or he will risk being labelled as anti-democracy and violator of constitutions and laws if he refuses to comply. This will soon bring him face to face with the international community.
I wish he listened to the advice given to him by the Americans. He is putting himself in a dramatic situation. The next few days and weeks will be, well…
Fantastic Tombeki
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
What a miscalculation by the Goss government to nominate Kiir as candidate for southern Sudan presidency. What I know is that he will have to relinguish his position in the army like what Bashir did because, albeit the south sudan interim constitution did not specify clearly about that, the sudan interim constitution is supreme and is the law of the land that over-rule the interim constitution of southern sudan. Albeit the SPLM political beuareau had nominated him to run for autonomous south sudan presidency, his candidacy will be rejected by the National Electoral Commission. Even the south sudan National Election Commission, which is a branch of the Sudan National Election Commission, puts the requirements as follows: that anyone wanting to contest for any position will have to relinguish hsi/her position being it in the army, judiciary, etc. To this clear fact, Slava Kiir will have to abide by the rules of the game.
Peter Rhiak Daniel
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
Kiir’s nomination for presidency in the South is a wise decision from the political Bureau but have the body read the constitution of the Republic about elections.
The Bureau should think twice in order not to hurt CPA implementation but safe guard its implementation. The elections to be conducted aren’t for Southern Sudan alone hence there is need to comprehend properly so that NCP doesn’t get a loop hole to create excuses or blame Southerners for failure to fully implement CPA. Bashir has set his trap by resigning from the army.
If the Political Bureau feels that Kiir is the best General then think again.
James Okuk Solomon
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
In truth we trust and nothing else we should hold with utmost honour but the truth. Article 111(1) of the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan (2005) states it clearly that the President of the Government of Southern Sudan shall only be the C-in-C of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army “prior to the elections that shall be held during the interim period.” This Constitution does not say the person who contests for the presidential seat of the GoSS should be the C-in-C of the SPLA during the elections period. The core terms of reference in the constitutional interpretation we are arguing about here are: “Prior” and “During”.
It is clear in the mentioned article 111 (1) that the SPLM Chairman, SPLA C-in-C and the United Sudan FVP is categorically not allowed to be in military uniform during the elections process if he chose to run for any top seat at any level of Government in the South.
Now that Kiir has been nominated officially by the Politburo of his SPLM to contest for GoSS Presidency in April 2010 elctions, the ball of the elections game is thrown into his side either to respect the NEC regulations or become a constitutional delinquent by defiance. If he chooses to go by the negative side of military dictatorship that has nothng to do with civilian democracy, he should better get reminded that Hon. Judge Abel Alier is a silent killer when to comes to law enforcement.
No joke; even the Abyei brother-in-law, Yasser Arman may get disqualified because there are criminal legal cases against him pending in the court in Khartoum regarding murder and insult to Khartoum State Police.
God bless South Sudan and the Defenders of Its Constitutional Democracy in practice rather than in paper.
chris7black
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
to my people in the south,,,im writing to you from the belly of the beast,,timesquare new york city,,being away from home for 200yrs has taught me alot,,i will share this much with you,,,1.do not trust anything or anyone from the north,,2.tribal allegiance in politics will always leave out equality for all people in the south so there will be discord and an open lane for failure,,3.open a south sudan consulate in black american cities and send some of your best students to american black universities so there will be an everlasting bond,,,4. recruit from america some of its best black american scientist,economist and engineers,,if the people are not 1 then the nation will not be either,,many have died for the living to do things right,,not just for dinka or any other tribe,,but for the people,,if you are not for the people,,move to the north with the muslims,,,all muslims are not bad,,but the ones ive seen from sudan and egypt are a different breed and are seeds of the invaders still working there way up the nile,,they actually call themselves egyptians now,,,
M.Cool.J
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
SPLM must be mad then allowing Kiir to vie for GOSS presidency while still heading the army.Not even that Kiir is not capale at all.
Why Yasir for presidency? Are we southerners foolish?I can see we are not sure of our destiny.
Time1
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
South Sudan needs Kirr to continue untill after the referendum ,to deliever the promise of the struggle for freedom and independence, Kirr will only leave after south sudan is free from Arab oppression and domination of Africans in Sudan.
Mustafa
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
To those who are rooting for separating the south from the north, I would say this is not the right solution. This is what the enemy is looking for; we need to be more united than separated. And I think to have election on that is wrong, and even if it’s okay to vote, I feel that every citizen in Sudan has the right to vote on that not only the south. What kind of equal rights is that? . People from the north have the same rights in the south and vise versa. If you look around or check the history you will find that most powerful nations are the united ones (e.g. USA, USSR, proposed European Union, etc.). I am from Odurman, and I realize that there are many ignorant people in Sudan and other countries who promote discrimination. Africa as a whole have pride in tribes (each tribe thinks they are better than others). Even in South Sudan Dinka Vs. Nuir etc. So we need to educate our new generations to adopt unity and equal rights for all (sound like a dream) but that is the only way out. This is not a religion issue, as all religions don’t promote discrimination. It is the people who make those mistakes. A real example is Dar Fur (Muslims against Muslims), so it is all about tribal war and pride. I can grantee you one thing, if South Sudan separate from the north it will no be peaceful county (many tribal war). So please leave race and religion alone, I am a Muslim, Islam teach me to treat people equal, the word Islam itself means Peace (Salam) and total submission to God. Profit Mohamed (peace be upon him), came to teach us how to follow the right teachings of all the great profits of God who came with the same message (e.g. Isa / Jesus, Mousa, etc.) peace be upon them all. As matter of fact if you read the Quran, you will find that Jesus peace be upon him was mentioned more than any other profit including profit Mohamed himself. So I invite all of you to seek the truth and read about Islam just for your knowledge. I am not trying to convince you here as we as Muslims we believe only God can do that. Our duty is to just ask you to seek knowledge. By the way Islam is not only for Arabs. As matter of fact Arabs are only 15% of total Muslims today. Islam also is the most growing religion because by becoming Muslim you will follow the correct teaching of Jusus peace be upon him, who by the way was born in the middle east and spoke Aramic, which is the sister language of Arabic not English. Some Europeans stole the true bible and changed it over the time, that’s why you see many versions of it.
Sorry I did not mean to turn this to religion debate, but thought to share my views with you. After all we all humans came from the same origin, so let us leave all the tribal prides and leave in peace. It may take time but if we stick to it, it will happen one day. May be not this generation but the next one.
AUGUSTINO DENG
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
Southern Sudan is really in turmoil with the fact that there is no person to “dethrone” Omar Bashir from Power. By the way, where is the guy whom people always shout that he is Joshua? It is true that Salva Kiir Miyardit is defending his position and that is why he is nominiated as a president of Southern Sudan. To me, I don’t expected Salva Kiir Miyardit to be a president of Southern Sudan but a president of the whole Sudan.
Now, if Saeed Yasir Arman is nominated to contest against Omar Bashir, will Saeed Yasir Arman be a president of Sudan if he win the Election and Mr Salva Kiir be a president of Southern Sudan at the same time? Why Salva Kiir Miyardit blind fooled himself by saying that ” SPLA/SPLM is like a car without a gear”?. Shame on him!!. I thought that Salva Kiir will deeply liberate his own peopole out from the hand of Arabs in Khartoum, but now Salva Kiir Miyardit’s vision become a hopeless to the Southern Sudanese Communities.
When should a person from Southern Sudan rule Sudan as a president? Shame on Salva Kiir!!. I vehemently believe a saying said that “if you are a poor person from the very beginning and later on become rich, you don’t have a tendency of recalling back the past situations. Now, that is what happening from Salva Kiir. He think that everybody in Southern Sudan is enjoying easy life as he do. When Southern Sudanese people nominated Salva Kiir Miyardit on Thursday 8/11/2005, it doesn’t mean that the Southern Sudanese people select Salva Kiir Miyardit for the position, but for the seek to stand and manicipated the Southern Sudanese people from ravages.
Today, Salva Kiir Miyardit, tend the Chair as his own wealthy. If not like that, then why he refused to contest against Omar Bashir? Because, he know that since his political view is weak, he could not make it to run as a president of Sudan. So, that is why he nominated Saeed Yasir Arman to contest against Omar Bashir. It is a stupid idea to make it in that way. If Salva Kiir Miyardit expected Saeed Yasir Arman to run for presidency, then Salva Kiir himself has to resign from the position of being as a Vice President and a President of Southern Sudan and give that position to Saeed Yasir Arman. It is a big shame to our leader Salva Kiir Miyardit to show a kind of fear in front of the enemies. Shame on Salva Kiir!!. Matter of position only can not let me go to the Northern Sudan and kneeled myself to Arabs. Shame on Salva Kiir Miyardit.
choldit
Salva Kiir formally nominated for presidency in South Sudan
I don’t knw on what base the SPLM will operate as a major party if we can’t observe the our constitution and apply it. Awani Igga should knw that he is a man like Kirr and Garang who using/used him to do their dirty business of sidelining Dr. Riek. Dr.Riek is currently (by deed) and before by (ambition)is the one who give us CPA is what keeps it alive now. Dr. Riek is the one who cool down the community of sidelined Nuer from GOSS from questioning why the money of the petrol that come from their land (Nuerland) is being loot by Dinka and their puppet Wani Igga.
It is clear from any human in the South that Kirr cannot pss the criteria because he is illetrate just like his dead Mother or she may be better. Constitutionally Kirr cannot be selected for Presidency but Wani has no way of saying it because he was put on that committee as a tool just like Lok Joak is but the real key players are Awut and other Dinka fools who have no consideration for what may happen if the consitution is violated, if the Nuer and other South Sudanese tribes are sidelined.
If this sidelining is done by Azandi who was fighting Colonial forces in 1800s in Equatoria and Nuer from central and East of South Sudan every one may think they are not food lovers. But Colonial forces were based in Bar Al Gazel and Bor when they were fifhgting Nuer and Azandi. Not to mention Dinka sided with Colonial forces and Arab during Guak Ngundeng lebration for South Sudan.
It is a culture for the Dinka to do their greed deeds at the time when South Sudanese are in critical time. They know Dr. Riek will work hard to convence the Nuer to keep quite though the Dinka are looting public property in the South just because the International Community will not see us to be a fail state if we going to be a nation next year.
But is it good to have just move from Jalaba master to another belind, greedy, illetrate master Dinka? For what purpose. This time Dr. Riek must either be with us or against to solve this Dinka stupidity.
I can’t count on Abel Alier’s ability to apply the Interm consitution of the Sudan by stopping this illetrate man call Salva Kirr to compete for the Presidency of the South because he is a Dinka after all.
If at all the South need the peace, it should vote for another private candidate or other party so that we the SPLM should see how fool we are.
This mistake can be blame on Wani Igga and John Lok for they allow themselves used by Dinka against the South Sudan. What can we support Kirr for? the current government is 90% own by Dinka e.g. all vital positions are given to Dinkas. 99.999% looters of the public money are from Dinka. Couldn’t it be a civilise way to stop Dinka from thier greedy behaviour.
Biong, was not blamed for his childish performance in Abyie court case, maladminstration in his daily roles in Goss. Dr. Riek covered him by wining the case. South Sudanese are not even blaming Dinka Abyie for selling themselves to Arab in 1905, shame to this greedy slave people. Now they try to cover their childish behavior by blaming Nuer from all thier bad deed.
God will not safe them this time!