South Sudan lawmaker abandons Kiir, joins Machar

JUBA, FEBRUARY 15^th 2023 (SUDANS POST) – A member of parliament in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State has announced his defection from the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IG) party under President Salva Kiir.

Speaking during a welcoming ceremony at the SPLM-IO headquarters in the state capital Yambio, Torosa Elia who was also the head of the SPLM Youth League in Western Equatoria said he decided to leave Kiir’s party and joined the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) over corruption.

“What is next for me after joining SPLM-IO, we want to make a concrete way to organize ourselves. I want to promise you as I joined IO, I am going to be a politician full of discipline, I have realized that its only in SPLM-IO that I can excise my discipline and execute my work very well,” he said.

The now-opposition member further promised to work hard to mobilize young people to join his new party.

“I also promise that I will genuinely get into political work and mobilized youth for you because am an influential figure,” he said.

For her part, the deputy chairperson of the SPLM-IO Youth League in Western Equatoria Elizabeth Gipson Ndoro welcomed the defection of the state member of parliament and described him as an important asset in the mobilization of citizens to join the group in the state.

“We are standing firm for peace we don’t want war neither discrimination. SPLM-IO is for peace, love and development,” she said.