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JUBA - 14 Jan 2021

OPP demand fair distribution of power in the states

Albino Akol Atak [Photo: Radio Miraya]
Albino Akol Atak [Photo: Radio Miraya]

Leaders of the Other Political Parties (OPP) – a party to the peace accord say they have written to President Salva Kiir Mayardit this month urging fair distribution of positions in the state governments.

On January 4, 2021, President Salva Kiir Mayardit announced the appointment of six deputy governors for six states. However, the remaining three posts to be occupied by nominees from the OPP were not announced owing to an internal dispute among them.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday, Albino Akol Atak, the coordinator of OPP and the secretary-general of the African National Congress, said five of the six parties in the OPP had asked the president for fair sharing of power.

He said, "Until now, we have not reached a consensus according to the agreement because one of the signatories of the OPP refused to accept power-sharing ratios in the states, and all attempts to resolve the issue have failed."

"The president of the republic addressed us and the file is in his hand. Now we are waiting for him to consider fairness in his decision," Akol added.

He said although it is not the president's mandate to get involved, five-member parties of the OPP have petitioned him for fair and equitable distribution of state powers.

Akol explained that the states' power-sharing ratios among the six groups were balanced, indicating that each party given a federal ministerial slot would not qualify for the deputy governor slot. An arrangement Peter Mayen Majongdit, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and a leading member of the OPP refused, drafting a parallel list of nominees and presenting it to the president.

For his part, Kornelio Kon, the head of the National Alliance of Political Parties, told Radio Tamazuj that the letter to President Kiir contains the list of nominees by the five parties. He says Kiir now has two lists and is at liberty to choose which he deems fair.

"If the president does not want to achieve justice and stands with the opinion of Majongdit, then this is something else. There is a problem of Upper Nile State, it was submitted to the JMEC, and from it to IGAD, and until now it is still stuck without a solution. So, we in the OPP do not want to be the reason for the delay in the formation of state governments," he said.

In an earlier interview with Radio Tamazuj Majongdit claimed the OPP leaders met and resolved the power-sharing impasse amongst them, a statement disputed by other OPP leaders.