A senior SPLM official has urged the removal of five state party leaders that are absent from their duties due to other political commitments and called for the election of new members in preparation for the 2015 vote.
Salva Mathok Gengdit, from the SPLM National Liberation Council, wrote an open letter to the SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum saying he is worried about the absence of SPLM state leaders which he called a concerning gap.Mr. Mathok noted that SPLM leaders of Western Bahr el Ghazal, Lakes and Unity, Mark Nyipoc Daniel, Awet Akot and Joseph Monytuil, are members of the National Assembly; the Warrap Sate chairman Tor Deng Mawien is a presidential advisor; and Jemma Nunu Kumba, who leads the SPLM in Western Equatoria, is a national minister.
He advised the five state leaders to be removed and called on the National Liberation Council to elect new ones.
Mr. Mathok, who joined in the Anyanya One at the age of 15 and later fought with the SPLA, concluded that time is running out and the party should not allow itself to be dismantled at grassroots level.