MPs reject Kiir’s attempt to reinstate N. Bahr el Ghazal speaker
March 6, 2013 (JUBA) – A group of MPs in Northern Bahr el Ghazal on Wednesday protested against the attempt by South Sudan’s President to reinstate Aguer Wol Aguer as the speaker of the state assembly.
“The directive of the president will work on the six members of parliament but will not at all work with the endorsement of the speaker. The speaker was removed through parliamentary procedures by 32 members. So returning him is not possible”, Majang Ngor Kuany, head of the information committee in the state assembly told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.
Aguer who was removed from his position during a vote he boycotted in July 2012, says his removal was engineered by members of the executive for political reasons and was unconstitutional.
Kiir’s letter was in support of a resolution by the South Sudan Council of States – the upper house of the national parliament – in October 2012 nullifying Awan’s actions after a fact finding committee submitted a report showing that proper procedures were not followed.
The six expelled MPs, who are all members of the South Sudan’s ruling party, have unanimously welcomed decision of the president endorsing the resolution of the Council of States which nullified their expulsion from the house and from the SPLM.
Their expulsion from parliament and from the party did not follow proper procedures, the lawmakers said.
Governor Awan dismissed the speaker and the six MPs in 2012 in a controversial executive order terminating their SPLM membership and removing them from the house following allegations of disloyalty and cooperation with members of other political parties.
Other allegations against the six members of parliament included holding meetings with other political parties and making statements without the consent of the secretariat.
Reacting to the news of Kiir’s directive asking governor Awan to implement the resolution of the Council of States, Kuac Wek Wol, one of the dismissed MPs described it as a victory for justice.
Wol, who is a former Northern Bahr el Ghazal minister of education told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday:
“This case of ours and our persistence and perseverance implies victory of justice, constitution and rules of law. And above all it is a good example of reclaiming of the lost dignity and self-realisation of the peaceful and highly civilized Mading Aweil people, who are suffering in silence, but deserve recognition, respect and development.”
The other dismissed MPs were Northern Bahr el Ghazal’s former agriculture minister, Deng Deng Akuei, as well as, Achak Thiep, Hikma Ali Malek, Andrew Lual Buola and Vicky Nyanut Urach.
(ST)