April 6, 2020 (Nyamilepedia) — Prominent opposition leader and Secretary-General of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin has rejected six (6) parliamentary seats allocated to his group, the National Democratic Movement (NDM), over the legitimacy of the Alliance leader Josephine Lagu.
Based on the revitalized peace agreement, the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) is to be given at least 50 seats in the 550-member parliament established under the terms of the same peace deal signed in September 2018.
In a letter on Sunday, Josephine Lagu who is also the leader of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) asked Akol to summit the list of his nominees to the parliament within 24 hours and threatened that failure will lead to nomination of other SSOA members.
“I am therefore requesting your good offices to submit the list of six NDM nominees to me within 24 hours. Failing this, I will submit the list of the rest of SSOA constituent organisations to the NCAC, without yours,” Lagu said.
In his response on the same day, Akol said he rejected the nomination of the members and said the process have to be done by a committee as agreed upon by the parties constituting the opposition consortium.
“Where did you come up with the figure of six (6) for the NDM? You know that the NDM and the FDP have always maintained that representation of SSOA organizations in TNLA must reflect (the) size and regional spread of each. This is the only way to achieve equity in the representation,” Akol said.
“Therefore, your current claim to be Chairperson of SSOA is contrary to the provisions of the Charter and Regulations of SSOA,” he added.
