A top official of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Juba (SPLM-Juba) has denied reports that the SPLM headquarters approved a request by the party’s Aweil branch office to terminate the membership of Kuel Aguer Kuel, caretaker governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
Kuel’s membership was revoked at a state party meeting on 3 January. The SPLM Secretariat in Aweil claims to have sought and obtained approval from the national secretariat for this move but this is denied by the latter.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the national Political Bureau on Friday, Daniel Awet Akot, a leading member of the SPLM-Juba and a close political ally of Salva Kiir, said that the party leadership never received any report or request for revoking Kuel’s membership.
“At the political bureau and national liberation council levels, I have not any request from Northern Bahr el Ghazal about this,” said Akot referring to claims that the state office sought approval of the two organs to terminate the membership of Kuel Aguer.
Daniel Awet, a former governor of Lakes State, was recently tasked by the president with investigating the crisis within the ruling party in Northern Bahr al Ghazal, where the embattled caretaker governor has been engaged in a power struggle with his predecessor, Paul Malong, who remains the head of the party branch in the state despite holding a military post in Juba.
Although Awet has reportedly completed a report about the political crisis and presented it to the president, he has not revealed what he recommended. Nonetheless, his remarks Friday suggest that he does not endorse the action taken by Malong and his group to expel Kuel from the party.
The party secretariat insists that Kuel was lawfully removed. Akec Akeen, head of information and communications at the state secretariat explained that the party’s disciplinary panel had found that Kuel “has continued to be unapologetic and continued to issue statements which were divisive and unhealthy to the membership of the party…”
Kuel was charged “on an array of charges ranging from insubordination, denigrating national party leaders, and extortionist behavior,” he said.
Since last month the caretaker governor has been living mostly in the capital Juba and he has not returned to Aweil. According to two top sources, however, the party leadership in Juba is planning to send him back to the state soon and hold a public rally upon his return.