Northern Bahr el Ghazal Assembly in Crisis: MPs
Nine Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Legislative Assembly members have revealed that the parliament is in a political crisis and needs higher authority at the national level to intervene in regards to the changes which happened within the assembly last year. 20 March 2013 By Abraham Agoth AWEIL, 19 March 2013 [Gurtong]-Last week, the state governor Paul Malong was given directives by the president to reinstate the six members and a former speaker who were expelled from the ruling party and lost their parliamentary seats. The members were accused of collaborating with other political parties, misbehaving and being disloyal to their party which the victims denied. According to nine assembly members, they were in a position to discuss the reinstatements of former colleagues who got expelled from the assembly so that they endorse the letter sent by the president to the governor. “We came to the assembly’s hall knowing that we were coming to endorse the letter that our president sent to the governor, surprisingly, we had our discussion begin but in the middle of our discussion had a different diversion which distorted our proceedings,” said Santino Mayuat Ngong. Mayuat said that state members of the parliament are not constitutionally mandated to discuss president’s directives, decrees and resolutions which are of higher authority. He stresses that both state and national constitutions do not have any articles stipulating the room for discussion when there is any decree passed in the office of the president addressed to his junior governors of states or ministers. “The reinstatement did not come from the president only but the recommendations made by the council of states investigating committee which was on ground here last year for fact findings. If the president has written backing the recommendations from the investigation committee to reinstate our colleagues, who else somewhere here to say the president’s directives are not in position?” he asks. Mayuat appeals for higher authority to send an implementing committee which passes these directives into action as he thinks that those directives will not be implemented by the governor. On the hands, MP Benson Opothmala Garjuak says he walked out from deliberation because he deems to go against the law. Among the MPs who boycotted the deliberation were Angok Achuol Barjok, Benson Opothmala Garjuak, William Wel Deng, Majok Wol Wol, Peter Marol Kur, Archangels Biet Wol, Isaac Makau Ayok, Santino Mayuat Deng Ngong and Kuot Kuach Kuach. Posted in: Home, Parliaments -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
