Some disgruntled parties under the umbrella of Other Opposition Parties (OPP) have accused party leader Peter Mayen Majongdit of endorsing his close relatives for appointments as members in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly.
The groups, including USAP, ANC, UDSF and UDF alleged that Mr. Mayen—who also doubles as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management—forwarded different names contrary to ones on the agreed list.
The parties threatened to withdraw their membership to the R-ARCSS should the coalition government fail to replace Mayen’s relatives with true OPP representatives to ensure inclusivity of the peace process as provided for by the revitalised agreement.
“It is true because the list of nominees made by the OPP leaders was actually replaced or changed by his list that he (Mayen) brought outside OPP. So it is true that those whom he nominated are merely his relatives, including his mother, brothers, sisters and his friends.
“Exclusion of others is contrary to the inclusivity that the agreement is calling for. So it is a great violation and those people who are left out may decide to consider themselves that they are not belonging to the agreement. If it continues, it will actually bring a real crack to the agreement,” said Albino Akol Atak, OPP Spokesperson who doubles as Secretary General of African National Congress.
Mr. Akol was speaking to the City Review on Friday on behalf of the four political parties.
Mr. Mayen is yet to respond to the claim. However, several phone calls by the City Review previously went unanswered but later answered by a different person who said the minster was away.
“The honorable minister is not around,” the person said without mentioning his name on Friday afternoon.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit on May 10 reconstituted the parliament in accordance with the provisions of the revitalised peace accord to include representatives of opposition groups signatories to the agreement.
According to the Chapter One of the September 2018 on responsibility sharing principle, parliament shall be expanded from 400 to 550 including Council of States from 50 to 100.
The former Transitional Government shall nominate 332 representatives, the SPLM-IO shall nominate 128 while South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) to have 50 representatives, OPP shall have 30 representatives and the former detainees to have 10 members.
There has been continued disagreement among parties under the umbrella of OPP over appointing representatives to the revitalised government. In 2020, some members of the OPP disagreed with the appointment of Minster Mayen saying his appointment was a surprise because he was not the desired candidate of the group.