Amb Mathom gets support for Pan-African Parliament top seat
A South Sudanese lawmaker, Amb Albino Mathom Ayuel, has been endorsed by 41 countries as the flag-bearer for the Pan-African Parliament’s Presidential Seat.
Mathom is the sole candidate representing the East African Caucuses in the parliamentary elections slated for June 29, 2022.
Speaker of the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA), Jemma Nunu Kumba, said the diplomat merited the job.
“The leadership of my country, in the person of President Salva Kiir, is in full support of the candidacy,” Jemma told SSBC on Monday.
“He is not only for us, but for you. He is from Africa and I think AU has a special focus on empowering the youth. This is the test,” she added.
Mathom expressed confidence in winning the coming elections.
“The election of the Pan-African Parliament is very clear. We have been endorsed by three regions — which are equivalent to 37 countries. And if we put in others, the numbers that we are sure of are about 41 countries that have endorsed us. So we are winning the election by a landslide,” Mathem said.
According to SSBC reporter, Bakhita Akuindik Abiem, the diplomat pledged to help fight insecurity, hunger, and health hazards like the COVID-19 pandemic across the continent.
A Member of Parliament from the Comoros, Abdul Said, promised to support Mathom, citing his desire for the common good of the African continent.
Mr. Abdul said that he had supported Albino from the beginning because he was ”our candidate.” Many MPs support him because we think he is young and dynamic and willing to work for the benefit of all Africans.
A Ugandan MP, Patrick Nsamba, described Mathom as “very intelligent and ambitious” man.
“We want to present to you Amb Albino, a Member of Parliament from South Sudan, as our candidate for the presidency of the Pan-African Parliament. He is a young man. Very intelligent. Very ambitious. We are looking at him to provide the change we have been looking for,” he said.
Consequently, the former vice president of PAP, Elise Loum, said many countries had been pushing for rotation in such elections but maintained that the countries in question ought to ratify the protocol before they could think of rotation.
“Most of the countries were asking for the rotation, but they had not voted for this protocol yet. And I think that it is a political duty for those countries to ratify the protocol before asking for the rotation. “
Mathom declared his candidature on Sunday before delegates from the fifty-four African countries.
However, the preliminaries, coupled with orientation and campaigns from candidates, for the polls dubbed “election of the new Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament” began yesterday at the parliamentary headquarters in Midrand.