{"id":45734,"date":"2026-06-29T15:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=45734"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:07:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:07:34","slug":"commissioner-suspends-splm-youth-league-chairperson-as-political-dispute-deepens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/commissioner-suspends-splm-youth-league-chairperson-as-political-dispute-deepens\/","title":{"rendered":"Commissioner suspends SPLM youth league chairperson as political dispute deepens"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hou Akot Hou<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Commissioner of Aweil East County in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State has suspended the county’s interim Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Youth League Chairperson, Santino Akec Dhel.<\/p>\n

The move that has sparked political controversy within the party’s local structures.<\/p>\n

The suspension was announced through Order No. 001\/2026, issued on June 26, 2026, by the County SPLM Interim Chairperson and Commissioner, Garang Thiang Deng. The order directs the public and party members to recognise the immediate suspension of the youth leader.<\/p>\n

“This Order shall be cited as the County SPLM Interim Chairperson’s Order No. 001\/2026 for the suspension of the SPLM Youth League Interim Chairperson in Aweil East County and shall come into force on the date of its signature by the County SPLM Interim Chairperson,” the order states.<\/p>\n

Speaking to this outlet in an exclusive interview on Sunday, Commissioner Garang Thiang Deng said the suspension resulted from what he described as violations of the SPLM constitution by the youth leader.<\/p>\n

According to Deng, Akec reshuffled youth leadership in the county’s seven payams without consulting the county SPLM leadership.<\/p>\n

“He overstepped his constitutional mandate as SPLM Youth League chairperson. He appointed people who were not the rightful individuals to replace the chairpersons in the seven payams. When making such changes, he was required to submit the proposed list to the county SPLM chairperson, who is me, and to the party secretary. Neither of these procedures was followed,” Deng said.<\/p>\n

The commissioner questioned why Akec sought approval from the state SPLM Youth League leadership rather than working through the county party structures.<\/p>\n

“Why did he go to the state leadership? He was not appointing state officials but county youth leaders. That clearly shows he departed from the procedures provided by the party constitution,” he added.<\/p>\n

However, Santino Akec Dhel rejected the allegations, insisting that all the changes were carried out after consultation with the SPLM Youth League leadership at the state level.<\/p>\n

He argued that the county commissioner lacked the authority to suspend him without involving the appropriate youth leadership structures.<\/p>\n

“He is not the state SPLM chairperson; he is the county chairperson. If there are allegations that warrant my suspension, he should first consult the SPLM Youth League chairperson and secretary at the state level. He is not the appropriate authority to suspend me on his own,” Akec said.<\/p>\n

Akec further claimed that the suspension was politically motivated and intended to frustrate reforms he had initiated within the party’s youth structures.<\/p>\n

“There is no way I could make changes in the county without informing the state SPLM leadership. I consulted them because whenever changes are made within the party’s syndicate organisations, approval from the state Youth League chairperson is required. That is exactly what I did,” he said.<\/p>\n

He added that he had planned broader restructuring of the youth league ahead of the country’s anticipated elections, a move he believes attracted resistance from political opponents.<\/p>\n

“It is now up to the party leadership whether they investigate me, dismiss me permanently, or reinstate me. For now, I am remaining at home awaiting their decision,” he said.<\/p>\n

The suspension order invokes Article 50(j) of the SPLM Constitution (2008, as amended in 2016).<\/p>\n

“In exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Article 50(j) of the SPLM Constitution (2008, as amended in 2016), I, Cde Garang Thiang Deng, SPLM Interim Chairperson for Aweil East County, hereby issue this order suspending the SPLM Youth League Interim Chairperson of Aweil East County with immediate effect,” the order states.<\/p>\n

It further directs the suspended official to refrain from carrying out any duties associated with the office until further notice.<\/p>\n

The decision has generated mixed reactions among youth in Aweil East County, particularly following recent changes to SPLM youth leadership across the county’s seven payams.<\/p>\n

Among those who criticised the suspension is local activist and former broadcaster Bulis Bol Chan, who accused the county leadership of failing to address the concerns of young people.<\/p>\n

“We demand change in the leadership style of this county. We have been arrested to silence us from speaking the truth, but we will not remain silent while truth is buried under lies, division, and administrative failure. Our citizens continue to suffer from a lack of basic services, yet the county leadership neither sees nor serves them,” he wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Chan also appealed to Northern Bahr el Ghazal Governor Charles Madut Akol to recognise the importance of youth participation in governance.<\/p>\n

“Your Excellency, we write to you with concern and honesty. Young people are a source of innovation and new ideas. When leaders dismiss them as children who do not understand, institutions become trapped in outdated thinking while the world continues to change,” he said.<\/p>\n

The political dispute follows the recent reshuffle of SPLM Youth League leadership in Aweil East County’s seven payams, a process that culminated in Akec’s suspension.<\/p>\n

With South Sudan preparing for anticipated elections, the controversy has highlighted growing tensions within local SPLM structures. It remains unclear whether party leadership will uphold the suspension, launch an investigation, or seek reconciliation between the opposing factions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hou Akot Hou The Commissioner of Aweil East County in South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State has suspended the county’s interim Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Youth League Chairperson, Santino Akec Dhel. The move that has sparked political controversy within the party’s local structures. The suspension was announced[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Aweil-East-County-Commissioner.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45734"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45744,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45734\/revisions\/45744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}