Opposition lawmaker allied to Machar declines appointment to parliament

JUBA – A South Sudan opposition politician appointed to Eastern Equatoria state parliament on the ticket of the SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny, saying he is a member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

President Kiir on Wednesday night reconstituted issued a republic decree reconstituting legislative assembly for four states as an accomplishment of provisions of the revitalized peace agreement.

Kiir reconstituted state legislatures for Eastern Equatoria, Warrap, Jonglei, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal.

But Carl Peter Takan Lolib who was listed to represent Kapoeta East County on the SPLM-IO ticket says he cannot accept the appointment because he is a committed member of President Kiir’s SPLM party and that he was not consulted.

“Regarding the appointment, I am not satisfied simply because it is also a surprise. I heard my name in the announcement as member of parliament in Eastern Equatoria on the ticket of SPLM-IO,” Takan explained.

“So, that gave me a surprise because I am not for SPLM-IO, I am for SPLM. Secondly, I did not participate in any nomination or consultation to be part of the legislative assembly in Eastern Equatoria.”

He said his appointment was wrong and might have been made in error.

“I am now trying to communicate that information to the world, the people of South Sudan and Eastern Equatoria that the appointment is wrongly placed. Maybe the name was typed wrongly,” Takan said. “The people of SPLM-IO should know that they have appointed a wrong person and even to the people of Eastern Equatoria, that the person that was announced in the SPLM-IO ticket was not the intended person.”

On the way forward, Takan said he was not going to assume the parliamentary seat as he did not belong to the party which nominated him

“I am not for that, it is a different party that has called my name to be in that position and I did not know whether my name is there,” Takan emphasized. “So, I have no message to tell my community regarding the position. For other community activities, I will have communication but not this appointment.”

President Kiir had recently reconstituted four state legislative assemblies in Upper Nile, Lakes, Western, and Central Equatoria states with only Western Bahr el Ghazal and Unity states not yet reconstituted.

According to the revitalized peace deal, the responsibility sharing ratio at state and local government levels shall be 55% for the SPLM; 27% for the SPLM/A-IO; 10% for SSOA, and 8% for OPP.