An Open Letter to Comrade Wani Igga; Chairman of the Conference Committee.

By: Joseph Aban Adyieng.

Your Exellency, this is an account from an eye witness of events of Panyikango County of Upper Nile State statrting from Wednesday 19th March 2008. March had always been a chatestrophic month for the Collo people. In 2003, the Collo area was overan by the melitia of the government with the hands of some Collo fellows both in SPLM and the Government of the day.

“The ‘boys’ are now entrusted to prepare for the second SPLM Convention. There is no doubt that they are now Preparing to rig SPLM representation at the forthcoming Convention so that their supporters will be more than absolute majority, thus guaranteeing their control of the SPLM. If this trend of events is not corrected, then the current Chairman of the SPLM and his two Deputies (Dr Riek Macar and Wani Igga) will definitely loose their positions at the convention”. John Mayen Jurkuc, 6 January 2008
Mr.Jurkuc predicted about two months ago in the quote statement above. Your Exellency, what happened in Panyikango County recently, if not corrected shall transfom the SPLM-party into a monister dreaded by the people who had high hopes in democratic transformation for the choice of the peoples’ representstion. In all the counties of Upper Nile State, the SPLM under the current secretary General Mr. James Kor had been in trouble right from the registeration to election of the repreentatives of the Bomas. The majority of the people were not registered, or had their names deleted deliberately under the instruction of the secretry general Pagan Amum. This question was raised in the INTC in Juba meeting, and was agreed that the wrong practices will be correcred. The appointment of the conference committee headed by your Exellency and the depuy of the SG Dr. Ann Ito as your deputy, raised some question marks to why the SG Mr. Pagan Amum is on the committee with his deputy as his boss in this situation? Now it came to pass that Mr. Pagan with all his weight behaind the committee denotes a sinister omen.
In Panyikango County, from which Mr. Pagan hails, he got only 20 people out of 39 conferees in his own village to be elivated to the county. His followers in the whole county were only 65(including the commissioner of Tonga County Mr. Daniel Odok) out of 251 including the murdered administrator Mr. Oyo. What happened on the 19th March all the conferees arrived in Tonga as schedualed? When the commissioner realized the overwheling number of his oponents, he tactically spoiled the meeting. On Satruday 22nd March, the commissioner after conferring with some his confidents like the impeached speaker Dr.Charles Yor, they conspired to put a time that most of the persons concerned would not be there. He announced at 5:00 PM on radio Malakal that the conference will kickoff at 10:00 AM the following morning Sunday 23/3/2008. Tonga is about fews hours from Malakal. Thus to arrive there before ten morning, you have to travel in the night. It was time to collect the elected persons from Anakdiar in the east that was why the car of Dr. Lam got sent to fetch those. Just about 15-20minutes drive from Malakal, the car was shot at killing 3 the driver, personal guard and the convention officer.
The driver was flown to Khartoum for burial as he was a northerner driving a rented car. The officer was burrried in Malakal and the personal guard of Dr.Lam was taken to Tonga his village for burrial. Mr. Daniel Odok the commissioner never paid attention to the burrial in Tonga inspite that the deseased was from his people. What kind of politics is this?
The conference supervisor from Juba and State sec. general of SPLM arrived very late at 6:00PM. Most probably allowing time for the people to burry their dead. However, the conferees not affliated to the commissioner and Pagan were not allowed into the conference hall, a practice that nearly caused bloodshed. The wisdom expressed by the Supervisor is commended. He denounced the tactics of the commissioner and ordered the postponment of the conference, a decision agreed to by bothsides.
The commissioner under the advice of Dr. Peter Adwok Nyaba and Dr. Charles Yor(the impeached speaker in vangence) consaulted Mr. Pagan on settlite phone in Juba who gave the go ahead. By 10:00PM on Sunday Mr. Daniel Odok the commissioner announced the completion of the conference, and he was the chairman and appointed a county secretary general.
Your Exellency Wani Igga,
You can verify the story from the man your committee trusted to oversee the conference which he did with honesty inspite of abuses directed against him by the commissioner and his defeated group.Your Exellency, the pertinent question is, for how long will this irrigularities be condone?, and what is the impact on the SPLM position in respect to its supporters?
We request you goodself and office to regard this result as null and void, as it is not the will of the people. A similar rigging occurred also in some counties like Fashoda, Manyo, Makal and Bieliet.
You have to order an immediate investigation into the froud and have the culprits brought to books to save the image of the SPLM among the people and other parties.