Gen. Gathoth Gatkuoth Hothnyang, who claims chairmanship of the Federal Democratic Party (FDP), has accused the Minister for Higher Education, Gabriel Changson, of attempting to grab his party.
Hothnyang, aka Galdong Nyanyiek Bichok, told Radio Tamazuj on Monday that the Minister’s group was trying to take the party already registered in the Political Parties Council (PPC) by force.
I am not surprised that Changson was working hard to grab our party, he said, likening the bid to the land grabbing phenomenon by powerful forces that was pervasive in parts of South Sudan.
Hothnyang dared the Minister to go ahead as FDP was No. 16 out of the 29 political parties registered by PPC.
“The institution which is responsible for the registration of all the political parties in South Sudan is the one to answer. Alternatively, they should go to court first so that I am summoned by PPC, the institution set up by the government to register parties,” Hothnyang said.
“You cannot launch a party you do not own. We heard and saw pictures of the launch in Malakal yet they have no right to launch FDP because it does not belong to them,” he added.
Hothnyang disclosed that FDP was formed in December 2014 after a disagreement with Dr Riek Machar, the Chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO).
Part of the group, he went on, later went to Juba and joined a coalition with Taban Deng Gai, another splinter group of SPLM-IO, and were given positions in the government.
Over the weekend, Changkuoth Bichiock Reth, the Secretary General of the faction led by Changson, lashed out at ownership and leadership claim by Hothnyang, saying the latter was dismissed after he defected in 2016.
However, Reth said the Changson-led faction was still in the process of being registered by PPC.