Press ReleaseTO GEN. SALVA KIIR MAYARDIT
BY NUER COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA INC. (NCCA)
SUBJECT: UNDEMOCRATIC AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL REMOVAL OF HON. DR RIEK MACHAR TENY FROM THE POSITION OF THE VICE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN, UNDEMOCRATIC AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL REMOVAL OF GEN. TABAN DENG GAI FROM THE POST OF GOVERNORSHIP OF UNITY STATE AND THE UNDEMOCRATIC AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL REMOVAL OF ENG. CHOL TONG MAYAY FROM THE POST OF GOVERNORSHIP OF LAKES STATE AND THE POWER VACUUM CREATED BY THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CABINET MINISTERS
Dear President Kiir
July 30, 2013 (SSNA) — The Nuer Community Council of Australia (NCCA) has been moved by the escalating political turmoils in the Republic of South Sudan under your presidential decree policy you were unconstitutionally imposed in relation to the removal of VP Dr. Machar, Governors of Lakes and Unity States including the reduction of the Government side by dissolving the nation Ministers. We have held teleconference on 26 July, 2013 and had agreed to bring this in to your presidential attention the following fundamental points.
Dear President,
It is a noteworthy that you had started your leadership with wisdom and conscientious steps. This has been demonstrated by your immediate appointment of Hon Dr Riek Machar as your Vice President and Deputy Chairman of Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) in 2005. Furthermore, you had successfully brought home our fellow South Sudanese who were with the Sudan Government. For example, the Juba Declaration between the Sudan People Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Forces of Late General Paulino Matip Nhial is a case in point. Therefore, we believed the agreement was achieved because of team work between you and your former Vice President Dr Machar.
Moreover, we the leaders and members of the NCCA condemned the undemocratic removal of your long term and 2010 Election Running Mate Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teny. Mr President, it is worth remembering that Dr Machar’s contribution to the peace, nation building, quest for Self-determination and Referendum which led to the Independence of South Sudan in 2011 is nationally and internationally applauded. Dear President, it is widely known that your Vice President Dr Machar has been seen nationally and internationally as an iconic figure in the implementation of the recent multilateral agreements signed between Republic of South and North Sudan.
Mr President, it looks unthinkable to forget your grievances with our former leader Late Dr John Garang De Mabior which Dr Riek Machar had resolved in Rumbek in 2004. Dear President, your major complaint against the Late Dr John at the time was the dictatorial attitude he had been leading the Movement. We quoted you as saying “Dr Garang was holding the Movement in his Briefcase and used it as his private enterprise”. Certainly, you were bitter against Late Dr Garang because he had ignored you and not given respect and authority as his deputy. Dr Machar had used all his energy to end such conflict between you and Late Dr Garang.
As a result, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and National Congress Party (NCP) of Sudan because you the SPLM/A leaders were first united. Hence, following the fatal crash of Late Dr John Garang, Machar and other Comrades were instrumental in making you the successor for the Post of the Chairman of SPLM/A, President of the Government of Southern Sudan and consecutively served as Vice President of the Republic of Sudan. You smoothly represented us until 2010 general election when you were elected the President of Southern Sudan. Dear President, you had held those positions through to the Independence of South Sudan and beyond unchallenged. There was a hope you would stem out both economic and corruption in our country. But Mr President, it would appear that your song of reducing corruption in our nation is just lip service and hypocrisy. Until today, our country scores worse degree on the ladder of corruption list and has been ranked fourth after the Old Sudan in terms of corrupt practices.
Dear President, our nation is in deep economic uncertainty due to the blocked market access of our Oil. We have been expecting you and your Vice President Dr Machar to have continued working hard in order to break such barriers. Mr President, we see the economic welfare of our citizens as a national priority rather than you giving into political criticism and intolerance.
Dear president, the Nuer Community Council of Australia (NCCA) is an umbrella organisation of the Nuer Associations of the States and Territories of Australia. We are representing voice and social, cultural, economic and political interests of the Nuer People in Australia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and elsewhere. Mr President, We support the peaceful and harmony co-existence with our neighbours whether in Australia or South Sudan. However, we are strongly discouraged your adversarial politics or political casuistry which you had unilaterally imposed against the capacities of ethnical populations and the Government’s official servants of the Republic of South Sudan. Mr. President, we are aware that, following the relieved of the Vice President Dr Riek Machar, you have been attempting to persuade other sons and daughters of Naath Politicians to take over the position of the Vice Presidency. We unanimously considered your intended decision as a derisive antagonism toward the unity of the Nuer People. We are happy for Dr Riek Machar to remain holding the Post of the Vice President until the end of your term after which he will take over the leadership of South Sudan through free and fair competition of presidential election against other parties in 2015.
Dear President, it is widely believed that the removal of Dr Riek Machar from his post had stemmed from his announcement of his intention to challenge you in your party leadership during convention. If this was true, then your political maturity and tolerance has been failingly tested. Politicians should depend on their political capabilities to convince their supporters and wait to beat their opponents in ballot box based on popularity not abuse of power. We remember the political contest between the United Kingdom’s brothers, Ed and David Miliband for Labour in which the younger brother had beaten the older. Needless to say, the two brothers are still living peacefully in sprit of brotherhood. Now, we have understood that even if Dr Machar wins the SPLM Party Chairmanship now, you would continue to finish your term as the President of the Republic of South Sudan till general elections in mid-2015. We believe that this is a significant long time in Office.
Dear President, according to South Sudan’s Transitional Constitution, the removal of the Vice President would require an approval of 2/3 majority of the National Legislative Assembly. We know that, this constitutional procedure has not been followed as you have already acted above the international rule of laws and democracy. Therefore, Mr President your removal of Dr Machar from his post is unconstitutional and undemocratic. Clearly, Mr President your decision seemed to have been underpinned by political motivation which exaggerated by the autocratic foreigners’ intrusive policy on South Sudan.. Thus, the Nuer Community Council of Australia (NCCA) condemned this undemocratic and illegal way of resolving political differences.
Dear President, NCCA is aware of the detrimental advice that has given to you by some those dictatorial foreigners who have no concern about the instability of South Sudan and who have bloodstains of their fellow citizens in their hands. If this was the fact, then you need to recall the turbulent years our Southern Communities had gone through during the liberating struggle before the re-unification of people. South Sudan is now an Independent Country and we do not want its predicted disintegration akin to Somalia.
Dear President, it is vital to stick to the slogans of our liberation struggle, which are of Freedom of expression and movement, Justice, Equality and Prosperity for all citizens of South Sudan.
Dear President, we wish you had fostered the spirit of the Heroic Veterans of South African former President Nelson Mandela as well as former President of Tanzania Julius Nyarere who had relinquished the power smoothly to fellow compatriots. Mr President, we do not want people from certain ethnic groups to behave as if they are the only ones who were born to lead. We need every citizens of the South Sudan nation whether from minority tribe, participated in the liberation struggle or not has the right to vie for Presidency. Mr President, the notion of a second class citizen is left with the Old Sudan and should not be allowed in a country where we all sacrificed our blood, future, time and vote for Separation from our former Oppressors.
Therefore, we urge you to promptly re-instate Dr Riek Machar Teny as the Vice President of the Republic of South. Dear President, the speedy re-appointment of Dr Machar as the Vice will help you consult with him on the appointment of new national ministers and their deputies so as to seal the power vacuum you have created with your undemocratic decrees.
On the other hand, Dear Mr. President, we condemn the unconstitutional and undemocratic removal of Governor of Unity State Gen. Taban Deng Gai on 7 July, 2013 as well as the relieved of Lakes State Governor Eng. Chol Tong Mayay. Mr President, remember that the duo were elected under the same constitution and the same general election by the people of South Sudan as you. The South Sudan Constitution would justify their removal only if there are crises which might affect the stability and integrity of the country. However, this had never occurred. For this reason, Mr President, we request their reinstatement or speedy election of new Governors as the Constitution of South Sudan requires polling within 60 days of their removal.
In conclusion, Mr. President, we the citizens of South Sudan need an equitable Government with an egalitarian President.
Sincerely Yours,
This letter is formally written and legally endorsed by the following NCCA Executive Leaders: