Luol Deng

South Sudan Basketball Federation has dismissed statements that the president was suspended by the general assembly.

On Thursday, a delegate Andrew Makuei, who spoke on behalf of the SSBF General Assembly said the General Assembly of the South Sudan Basketball Federation suspended basketball star president, Luol Deng, over his alleged failure to respond to a meeting call as his four-year tenure came to an end on Friday.

“The extraordinary general assembly made a resolution to suspend and further investigation to our president Luol Deng to respond to the assembly and also give us a report of the four years of being in the office,” he said

Asked about the way forward, should the President fail to appear before the general assembly, Makuei said, the institution would proceed to elect a new president.

“So, in case of him not coming, we have already passed names for the electoral committee, so we will be going on with our process of starting elections.”

“His term is coming to an end and our constitution, says a person is supposed to stay in office for four years, but after four years, we are supposed to start a new governing body.”

“This is a democratic country, so everyone has the right regardless of their state, you have the right to do what you are intended to do as a citizen of South Sudan. So, without him responding to us, we will take another step because he’s not the last guy.”

GA REOLUTION

In a press statement released on Friday, the federation disregarded the reports and said “ Luol Deng remains the national president of the federation until further notice as per the directives of the new minister of Youth and Sports to put the elections on hold.”

The statement alleges the secretary-general and finance secretary who organized the said general assembly meeting were both suspended by the president in July 2022.