Two Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) members from Western Equatoria State have called for the removal of Governor Alfred Futuyo Karaba citing insecurity in the state since his appointment.
Addressing a press conference at the parliament on Friday in Juba, Susan Thomas Perembata who represents Ezo County, said that since the appointment of Governor Futuyo in 2020, the state has never had peace.
“We can confirm that ever since the appointment of the governor of Western Equatoria State in 2020, the people of greater Tombura never experienced peace but an unprecedented level of communal violence that has claimed over 400 innocent lives, destroyed public and private properties, and displaced nearly 1000 people to neighboring counties,” she charged. “
Perembata accused Governor Futuyo of inciting other tribes in the state against the Azande.
“He has done this in rallies that were conducted in Maridi, Tambura, Ibba Source Yubu, Ezo, and Yambio. During those rallies, the governor publicly stressed that the communities of Tambura and Ezo are rebels,” she said. “Futuyo additionally argues that the Azande have resolved to create and establish their nation (country) and that they do not like other people. In Maridi, in the presence of Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi, Futuyo told the people that the Azande are planning to fight the Baka community.”
“We would like to declare publicly that these are baseless and fabricated lies aimed to undermine the recently installed Azande Kingdom and to tarnish the good image of the Azande people who embrace all tribes in the state and consistently stood firm in support of the current government under President Salva Kiir Mayardit,” the parliamentarian added.
According to Perembata, Futuyo is using the conflict in the Central African Republic’s Bambuti area to create the impression that the Azande are bad people and want to create their own country curved out of parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan.
She accused the governor of fabricating fake attacks on the SSPDF position in Source Yubu to drag South Sudan into an international conflict with CAR.
“Governor Alfred Futuyo has a secret deal with the Seleka, Ambororo, and the remnants of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) which may eventually result in noticeable combat between those armed forces and the Government of South Sudan,” Perembata said. “Similarly, the Balanda militia allied to the SPLA-IO used the Seleka and the Amboro pastoralists to massacre the Azande in 2020. One of the visible pieces of evidence happened when some Seleka and Amboro bodies were seen when the Balanda militia came to fight Gen. Nando in Tambura town. Time will tell.”
For his part, Clement Juma Mbugoniwia called for the swapping of the governor of the Western Equatoria State docket from the SPLM-IO to either SSOA or OPP as the incumbent governor has failed in leading the state.
“We are calling for the swapping of the state’s governorship. It means we are demanding the immediate dismissal of the governor because since his appointment, the state has never experienced any peace and a lot of requests have been made to the leadership of his party to change him by the provisions of the peace agreement,” he said. “The situation has escalated to the point that he is sending our national army to a foreign country to go and fight youths from those countries. The implication will be that you are attacking a sovereign state and that country could fight back.”
Reacting to the lawmakers, Alex Daniel Digi, Governor Futuyo’s press secretary, denied what he called allegations by the lawmakers and instead accused members of the Other Political Parties (OPP) in the state of orchestrating the violence.
“When the governor was in the state for nine months before the deputy governor, parliamentarians, state ministers, and other officials were appointed, the situation was calm and there were only stories of ongoing development. When other parties were appointed, that is when insecurity started,” Digi said. “If it was the governor who incited or created conflict, how come there was no gunshot or conflict for the first nine months he was in office? The MPs are supposed to collaborate with the state government and investigate the case because you cannot sit in Juba and then keep putting the blame. Supporting the armed groups this is wrong.”