Gola dissolves South Sudan Youth Union executive body as term elapses

The outgoing chairperson of the South Sudan Youth Union, Gola Boyoi Gola (C) flanked by members of his executive committee. (Photo: Radio Tamazuj)

The outgoing chairperson of the South Sudan Youth Union, Gola Boyoi Gola, on Monday officially announced the dissolution of his executive committee, bringing his term of office to an end and making room for the election of a new youth leader.

Gola, who announced at a press conference at the Ministry of Youth and Sports on Monday said they have agreed as the outgoing executive body that there will be a peaceful transition of power through elections which constitutionally have to be held in three months.

“Today marks the end of our term (four years) and we want to inform the general public and the youth of South Sudan that the term of the South Sudan Youth Union has come to an end and we are therefore officially dissolving the (executive) committee,” he announced.

The outgoing Chairperson said the dissolution of the executive body is to give a chance for preparations for the conduct of the National Youth Union Convention where a new leadership will be elected. He revealed that the outgoing executive had formed a preparatory body to organize the convention.

“We have reached a consensus between the executive committee and the council and we have agreed to form a unified committee. This preparatory committee is tasked with organizing the National Youth Convention,” Gola disclosed. “The official handover will be conducted after the official election of the new leadership. This is when the outgoing executive committee will hand over all the assets of the Union to the newly elected leadership.”

He further called on the youth across the country to embrace unity, adding that his team’s voluntarily leaving office after their term in office demonstrates the kind of unity and leadership that South Sudanese aspire for.

For his part, Matthew Marko, the spokesperson of the Union confirmed that the dissolution of the body resulted from an agreement to hand over power to the younger generation in a peaceful manner.

“This dissolution comes after we conducted a general meeting between the council and the executive committee of the leadership of the South Sudan National Youth Union,” he said. “The resolution of the meeting called for dissolution of the executive as today it is 11 December 2023 which marks exactly four years from 11 December 2019.”

According to the constitution of the Youth Union, eligible voters will be drawn from the county and state levels of the ten states and three administrative areas.