Open letter to His Excellency the President of the Republic of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit

Subject: Revocation of the Appointment of Hon. Wait John Dak from the Transitional National Legislative Assembly

I have the pleasure to submit this complaint to your humble office for consideration. I have no doubt in my mind that you will act swiftly as the head of this great nation on this national matter of concern. As the famous quote goes, “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”

We, the people of Leer County, have been patiently waiting since the formation of the revitalized Government of National Unity (RGoNU) for our rightful geographical seat, which was wrongly given to Koch County (Jageay), to be reverted back to us through the revocation of Hon. Wait John Dak, who mistakenly grabbed the seat which does not belong to her constituency.

Your Excellency, it has never come to your attention that the geographical constituency 24 – Unity State – Leer County was previously occupied by the elected Member of Parliament Hon. Kuong Dak Wie. This constituency represents the people of Leer County and Mayiandit County. However, during the 2013 crisis, Dr. Kuong Dak Wie joined SPLM in opposition, and thereafter, it was occupied by the late Hon. Kam Wie Gai. The deceased late Hon. Kam Wie’s cause of death is attributed to stress or mental breakdown due to losing the seat to Koch County immediately after the reconstitution of the Revitalized Government of National Unity and subsequently during the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Legislative Assembly (TNLA). Surprisingly, the constituency was given to people of Koch County and is currently occupied by Hon. Wait John Dak, the wife of Hon. Malual Tap Diew, the current first Undersecretary in the National Ministry of Finance and former State Finance Minister for Unity State.

Your Excellency, the drawing of the geographical constituencies was done for the people of South Sudan to exercise their rights on services delivery and on who can represent them in those constituencies. It is a surprise for the people of Leer County that their geographical constituency seat in the parliament is being denied by the SPLM in the current Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA).

After conducting consultations, I am personally appealing to you and calling for the demand of this seat to be returned to the people of Leer if their rights are not taken for granted by SPLM. We have capable SPLM members in Leer who can occupy this seat and represent the people of Leer in the National Assembly. It is the right time for the Leer community to demand their rights in the SPLM. Our right should not be taken in broad daylight under our watch. If this demand is not considered, we will file a lawsuit regarding why our geographical constituency 24 seat was stolen and given to Hon. Wait John Dak from Koch County.

Your Excellency, I know the imbue of your leadership style on how you harness for the people of South Sudan, and I believe Leer must be reflected or sparkle in your governance and have equal rights as the rest of the counties in service delivery and people representation. The people of Leer felt a lack of representation of SPLM in the government, but the big deal is that our constituency 24 should not be taken from us and must be returned to us.

This call is to remind your office to consider the revocation of Hon. Wait John Dak, who hails from Koch County and currently occupies Leer County constituency 24. I believe many South Sudanese reading this genuine complaint could agree with me in returning the seat to the rightful owners. I personally don’t have any issues with Hon. Wait John Dak, nor do I know her or her husband, Malual Tap Diew. These two people are not a problem for me, and I will never have a personal problem with them, but I believe they will also agree with this call since they also represent the people of Koch in the government in different capacities.

Your Excellency, through my consultation with the people of Leer and on my own behalf, I/we found that our right got lost somewhere, but this time around, I believe our right is around the corner after reading this demand/call. This is to allude this important call to remind our President about our lost seat to be returned to us. We are not the type of people whose rights should be taken in broad daylight in our presence, and I am very optimistic that our President will hear this call and revoke the appointment of Hon. Wait John Dak.

Cde Chuol Bang Teny can be reached at johncb.td@gmail.com