Four members of South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly have announced their defection from Kiir government in Juba and joined the SPLM-IO faction led by former first vice president Riek Machar on Wednesday.
The legislators, who announced their resignation in Khartoum, include Gatwech Lam Puoch from Nasser County in Upper Nile, Pasquale Clement Batali representing Nagero in Western Equatoria, Justin Joseph Marona of Maridi in Western Equatoria, and Martin Mabil Kong from Rubkona in Unity State.
The group which joined Riek Machar condemned the ongoing bloody violence across South Sudan, while criticizing Kiir’s style of leadership.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj yesterday, Gatwech Lam Puoc, former chairperson of the parliament’s mining and commerce committee, said they reject what he termed as “divisive policies” of the current government in Juba.
Lam pointed out that the current parliament does not function independently due to restrictions imposed on lawmakers during deliberations, saying several chairmen of parliamentary committees were dismissed as punishment for having rejected a constitutional amendment related to the 28-states proposal.
“When we rejected the 28 states, we were dismissed from our positions, and we were also investigated by the SPLM party because we reject that,”said Puoc.
” So because are being restricted from carrying out our role as parliamentarians, we decided to join the opposition, we want to achieve peace and stability in the country, and we want to topple the current government to bring an end to the suffering of our people,”he added.
The four MPs condemned the creation of 28 states which they claim is a recipe for ethnic disunity and violence in South Sudan. The defectors accused President Kiir of being responsible for the collapse of the implementation of the signed peace agreement in July.