The recently elected president of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS), Oyet Patrick Charles, on Tuesday named a 16-member executive committee to run the affairs of the body and called for unity.
Oyet in a statement said, “The General Assembly meeting of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) on May 28, 2021, elected new executive committee members and mandated the newly elected leadership by me, Oyet Patrick Charles, to constitute a National Executive Committee on or before Wednesday 2 June 2021.”
Oyet said his first task in the new office is to embark on uniting journalists in the country as he immediately expanded the executive from 13 to 16 members.
“The priority at the moment is to first bring unity among the journalists. So, the first thing that we want to do is to unite the journalists for us to speak in one voice. Because if you want democracy, good governance, and protection of human rights, you cannot talk about these things without a free media,” he added.
According to the new UJOSS boss, journalists cannot talk about free media in a country where they are not united.
“We must be united so that if any journalist is arrested, we speak with one voice,” Oyet said.
Mary Ajieth Goch, the chairperson of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS), welcomed the results of the elections and the new UJOSS executive body.
“I am very excited that the Union of Journalists finally had its elections after almost a decade. They have been having the same leadership for almost a decade,” Ajieth said. “Now they have new blood in the system. So, I hope that this new executive body of the union will revive UJOSS because there are a lot of challenges that almost pulled down the union to a death bed.”
The AMDISS chairperson said she hopes the new UJOSS leadership will inject new ideas and revive the union and steer it in a new direction for the benefit of journalists.
According to Oyet, after several meetings with UJOSS members and having reached a consensus, as the new UJOSS chief, he dissolved the UJOSS National Executive Committee that has been in office since 2011.
“By the same powers conferred upon me by the General Assembly meeting of UJOSS held on 28 May 2021, I hereby constitute the National Executive Committee as follows,”
- Oyet Patrick Charles-President
- Ajak Ater Gar-Vice-President
- Majak Kuany Alier-Secretary General
- Seba Martin-Deputy Secretary-General
- Yangi Justin-Treasurer
- John Agok-Deputy Treasurer
- George Ruot-Organising Secretary
- Rose Keji-Deputy Organising Secretary
- Nema Juma-Gender Secretary
- Yol Anthony-Deputy Gender Secretary
- Tapeng Micheal-Communications Officer
- Ibrahim Awol-Deputy Communications Officer
- John Achiek-Member Supporting Treasurer
- Peter Louis-Member Supporting Secretary-General
- Jebril Rodo Kamanda-Member
- Maura Ajak-Member