SPLM temporarily closes its W. Bahr el Ghazal office
June 4, 2013 (RUMBEK) – South Sudan ruling party (SPLM) has temporarily closed its office in Wau, the provincial capital of Western Bahr el Ghazal state.
“The party office was not closed, only that the old secretariat is just peacefully handing over the office to the new [elected] members,” Hassan Zakariah Rizik told Sudan Tribune.
The governor, who also heads the security committee in the state, downplayed claims of internal party struggles, but said it was important for a party to organise its existing structures.
Last year, the SPLM Liberation Council at the state level, forced out its party secretary, Kamil Wana Uraj and replaced him with Paulino Adam Naro. This move did not please many party supporters.
Mark Nyipuoch, the party chairperson in Western Bahr el Ghazal earlier petitioned the SPLM national secretariat in Juba to intervene and restore calm in the party wing at the state level.
The state chairperson, among others, accused some elements within the party of allegedly trying to mobilise groups of people opposed to the SPLM ideologies and its current leadership.
Last month, a ceremony organised for swearing in of the newly elected party executive in the state ended with lots of controversy, after some members disputed the election of the new representatives.
For instance, at a meeting of the state Liberation Council last month, 26 out 51 members present unanimously declared Uraj, who was year dismissed by the same body last year, resumes his position as party secretary.
The same body also elected Belo Daniel as the new deputy chairperson of the party at the state level, replacing Joseph Anthony Kpandu. All decisions taken during the Council meetings were done in the absence of the party chairperson.
“It is really very sad that in the last two to three days, the SPLM state Liberation Council had illegally granted political activities in the state council of ministerial peace hall without my knowledge,” Nyipuoch reacted, when contacted by Sudan Tribune.
Indeed, I respect the normal channels of the SPLM and advise that if the state Liberation Council wanted to conduct any meeting, it would have requested party chairperson through a letter, he added.
The party chairperson, however, expressed fears that the party could be headed to a “rocky” road, if members of the Liberation Council continue conducting activities without consulting those at the helm.
The deputy chairman of the SPLM, Riek Machar recently warned of a possible collapse of the party, unless it democratically transforms and refocuses itself.
Machar, also the country’s vice president, told senior officials at the party’s general secretariat that the SPLM had “lost direction and vision”, making references to reports from various state secretariats across the country, which depicts the party was largely unpopular.
He however said it was incumbent upon the south-ruling party to change the status quo.
(ST)
- http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article46630