The General Assembly of the Red Army Foundation says it has dismissed its Chairman, Deng Bol, after accussing him of failing to step down -since the end of his term last year.
In a statement seen by Eye Radio, the foundation’s General Assembly said Mr. Deng was to vacate the office of the chairperson in November, 2018 – but has since not done so.
Mr. Deng, however, wrote on his Facebook account in March that; “in my capacity as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Red Army Foundation, I have the pleasure of reporting that the term of office of the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Secretary has elapsed.”
It is not clear whether an election was called to replace him when his term elapsed.
In Deng’s post, he mentioned that the foundation’s Board of Trustees shall hold elections within 90 days, after “welcoming ideas and opinions from the general assembly and members of the Board of Trustees, should there be any need for constitutional amendments.”
But according to Abraham Kuol Khamis, who undersigned the letter, the Red Army General Assembly has already elected a new leadership -without Deng Bol.
He said they elected Gabriel Thiep Piol Lual, as the new chairperson, and Pitia Kenyi Ikuach as the deputy chairperson.
Mr. Kuol said out of the 520 votes, only 4 voted in favor of Deng Bol, while 518 voted him out.
“The general assembly has decided to elect a new leadership because our first chairman Deng Bol term has elapsed in Nov. 2018,” he said.
The statement by the assembly also said Dr. Abraham Chol Weel has been elected as the Secretary General of the Assembly, while James Deng Magot was elected as the Executive Director.
They accuse Deng Bol of corruption and mismanagement of the foundation’s funds.
“He was sued in court to answer questions on corruption charges, [but] he defaulted the summon and later escaped the arrest warrant to Nairobi on 16th May. So the general assembly dismissed him and elected a new leadership,” Kuol added.
When contacted by Eye Radio, Deng Bol said he had no comments over the matter.
But his earlier [March] post on Facebook encouraged his colleagues to seek the position of the Chairperson of the Red Army Foundation.
“I welcome any member of the Board of Trustees to prepare to take up the leadership of the Red Army Foundation. It has been an honor and privilege to serve my colleagues in the Red Army and the people of South Sudan, but my service above-self won’t stop there,” Deng Bol wrote.
The Red Army Foundation was established in 2013 as an organization dedicated to addressing social problems, especially among its own former members and South Sudan’s youth.
It is made up of young people who were once recruited into the SPLA as boys in the early 1980s.
The child soldiers were called the Red Army by Dr. John Garang to act as the “seeds” of a New Sudan.
They were trained as both soldiers and future academics, and professionals who will help develop the nation after the civil war is over.