South Sudan’s Aweil State lawmakers who were recently removed by the state governor have petitioned the country’s upper house of parliament seeking its intervention into the matter.
The seven lawmakers, in a letter addressed to the Council of States, called for justice and accountability in the state government.
The MPs also petitioned the acting secretary general of the ruling party (SPLM) as well as the ministry of justice, calling for the revocation of Governor Jal Malith’s order.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, the former speaker of the state assembly, Deng Ayom Ayom said they met the acting speaker of the Council of States and discussed issues related to their removal by the governor before submitting a complaint on the matter.
“Upon my arrival from Aweil, I met the acting speaker of Council of States and handed over our complaint on the unlawful decree issued by the governor of Aweil State,” said Ayom.
He said the same documents were committed to the ministries of parliamentary affairs, justice and to the SPLM secretariat.
“We also gave the same letter to the speaker of the national assembly, the minister of parliamentary affairs and minister of justice. We also wrote to the SPLM acting secretary general,” he said.
Last week, Aweil State governor, Major General Jal Malith issued a decree removing the state legislative assembly speaker, Deng Ayom, his deputy, Benson Upouth Malo and six other lawmakers.
The decree did not, however, state why the legislators were sacked.
It was widely speculated that state assembly’s decision to suspend a household tax plan proposed by the ministry of local government in March could have prompted removal of MPs who opposed the tax.
The state government, in its new bill, had proposed SSP 350 as official tax rate per household, a move opposed by some of the lawmakers.