Opposition leader rejects SPLM ‘interference’ in his group’s affairs

JUBA — The leader of South Sudan’s opposition consortium, Other Political Parties (OPP), Peter Mayen Majondit, has rejected the interference from the ruling SPLM faction in its internal affairs.

This came after the SPLM formed a high-level committee headed by Presidential Security Advisor, Tut Kew Gatluak, to resolve a disagreement on how to share percentage allocated to them in recently reconstituted transitional national legislative assembly and the council of states.

The meeting agreed to allocate 20 seats to the five signatories of OPP while the sixth group (Umbrella) headed by Peter Mayen takes 10 seats.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Juba on Wednesday, Mayen who is also the leader of the Umbrella group cautioned the SPLM against interfering in their internal issues.

“Non-interference of the parties on other party affairs, so there is no way a committee which is composed of Tut Gatluka from the government would come and sit with few opportunists who didn’t sign a declaration of principles,  those who didn’t participle in the process and said we allocate positions,” Majondit told reporters in Juba on Wednesday.

“Another the party can’t come and allocate positions to another party. Did they allocate to IO or SSOA? If there is an issue within the OPP, they should understand who the leaders of the OPP are,” Majondit added.

He disputed the resolutions of a meeting that allocated 20 seats to the five signatories of OPP and 10 seats to his party, the Umbrella group.

“Those who don’t understand this agreement or participate in it and those don’t know the several discussions and mediation we went through over the years shouldn’t come to claim what they didn’t understand,” he added.

He denounced the allegation made by few individuals within the OPP, describing them as opportunists who have never participated in this peace process.

“We have always been having principles of inclusion and participation of all in the process because basically we are not just looking toward powers,” he said.

He called on those politicians to desist from such propagandas and join hands to work for peace.

“We are not just after the participation in the government; we are after the prosperity and glory of the people of South Sudan. We have always been open to compromises for inclusion but that shouldn’t be at our expense to such the humiliation that the public and the media received from them is misleading,” he said.