The Commissioner was set to answer questions from members regarding ongoing gold mining in the county, which claimed the lives of five people last Saturday in the Dollo area

By Yunisen Lawrence

Western Bahr el Ghazal State Transitional Legislative Assembly suspended the Commissioner of Raja County, Edison Arkangelo, on Tuesday morning during its 26th regular session, for failing to attend three sessions before the Assembly’s Business Committee.

The Commissioner was set to answer questions from members regarding ongoing gold mining in the county, which claimed the lives of five people last Saturday in the Dollo area.

In a press statement after the fourth session before members of the Assembly in the chamber, the official spokesman for the state’s Assembly, Hon. Joseph Mawut, explained that members of the Assembly voted unanimously to suspend the Commissioner for failing to appear before the Assembly, pending his attendance at a later date.

Mawut revealed that the commissioner was summoned for three initial sessions, on February 13, 8, and March 3, but he failed to attend.

“Today, the commissioner failed to appear before the Assembly, thus he was suspended by a majority of members of the Assembly after members of the SPLM-IO withdrew,” he stated.

The minority leader from the opposition, Hon. Salah Salem, said that one of the reasons for the withdrawal of SPLM-IO members from the council was the lack of consensus between the two parties regarding decision-making within the Assembly.

“This is a constitutional right that the party has taken. Furthermore, the council members did not consider humanitarian considerations. They had asked the council to give the commissioner an opportunity to offer condolences to the martyrs of the gold mine in the county,” Salem said.

“However, the council decided to suspend the governor’s activities in the county, which prompted SPLM-IO members to boycott the session.”

This publication was not able to reach the commissioner by the time of going to press.

“Today, the commissioner failed to appear before the Assembly, thus he was suspended by a majority of members of the Assembly after members of the SPLM-IO withdrew,” WBGS Assembly spokesperson, Hon. Joseph Mawut, said.

DISCLAIMER: The article has been corrected to reflect the actual county where the said commissioner is from. We previously incorrectly cited Jur River County instead of Raja County. We apologize for the miscommunication.