SPLM candidate for governorship says Upper Nile state is sick under NCP

By James Gatdet Dak

February 21, 2010 (JUBA) – The official candidate of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said Upper Nile state is sick under the administration of the National Congress Party (NCP), adding that his top priority would be to bring to an end insecurity in the state if elected as governor in the April elections.

Addressing hundreds of supporters in a rally he organized on Saturday at Beijing Juba Hotel, Simon Kun Puoch presented a long list of priorities that he would want to implement in order to change the situation in the state if elected.

Upper Nile state’s governor has always been a nominee of the NCP per the pre-elections power sharing arrangements agreed upon in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Kun who is also the current chairman of the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC) added that roads connectivity, agricultural production and promotion of local investors in the state would also be among his administration’s top priorities.

He said Upper Nile is a state flowing with milk and honey but its resources have not been managed properly by the successive governors from the NCP.

He pointed out the importance of SPLM this time winning back the state in the elections, explaining that the state had been run under two conflicting systems of NCP and SPLM which he said sometimes resulted to insecurity and lack of development for the last five years.

“Insecurity must be gotten rid of immediately [if elected] because it is a threat to our lives and stability,” he said.

Kun who was nominated by the party’s Political Bureau after his name was initially dropped from the list of nominees by the Upper Nile state Electoral College assured that the SPLM will win the elections in the state.

“We need to win and we must win this election. We cannot afford to lose,” he said.

He assured the participants that the party was the only big boat that would take the people of Southern Sudan across the river as he launched the campaign under the SPLM slogan ‘Freedom, Peace and Prosperity.’

He declined to further comment on the question posed to him inquiring whether the Political Bureau indeed replaced names of candidates recommended from the grassroots, responding that the question should have been directed to the Political Bureau itself.

“I am not a member of the Political Bureau,” he said.

He denied the allegations or rumors that he was handpicked to contest for governorship in Upper Nile state so that he could take the 2% of oil revenue from the state to Warrap state if he assumes governorship.

“It was not Salva Kiir who brought me. I was nominated by the Political Bureau. Those who make such an allegation do not know me well,” he reacted.

When asked how he would feel if he loses the coming election, Kun explained that it would be the SPLM as a party that would have a feeling and not him as a person. He was however quick to add that he would win the election.

Kun will contest against seven other multi-party and independent candidates competing for governorship in the state.

The SPLM chairman and incumbent President of the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, was re-scheduled to launch his campaign for Southern Sudan presidency on 24th February instead of 20th February as previously scheduled due to his travel to Khartoum on Saturday for a meeting of the Presidency.

(ST)