SPLM-IO official calls for removal of Chief Justice

JUBA, JULY 8, 2023 (SUDANS POST) – A senior official of the main opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) party is calling for the removal of Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut, saying that he is not impartial and cannot ensure free and fair elections in 2024.

Chief Justice Madut on Tuesday appeared at a mega rally of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) faction led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit in which the later declared his acceptance of his nomination by the group for president in the would-be 2024 elections.

Madut’s appearance at the huge SPLM rally sparked anger among the civil society as well as opposition figures who expressed concerns about his impartially in light of fears that the 2024 elections, the first in South Sudan since independence, will be disputed.

In a tweet, Puok Both Baluang, the Acting Press Secretary in the Office of the First Vice President and SPLM-IO Director of Information and Public Relations, said that Chief Justice Madut’s removal is critical for ensuring free and fair elections as he has suggested he is politically allied to Kiir’s SPLM faction.

“We believe that the removal of Chief Justice Hon. Chan Reech Madut, together with the other prerequisites, is a critical step towards ensuring free & fair elections in 2024,” he wrote on his twitter handle on Friday.

“Undoubtedly, he displayed that his actual colors are RED ‘SPLM-IG’ rather than NEUTRAL, as his position requires,” he added.