John Akoon
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The President of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS), Oyet Patrick, lamented that the union has failed to conduct its annual general meeting due to financial challenges stemming from economic challenges in the country.
According to a statement seen by The City Review, Oyet noted that the AGM requires $20,000 to $30,000, but the union cannot raise the money and there are no donors to come to their rescue.
Oyet released this statement after a group of journalists confronted him with questions, demanding to know why the union had not conducted the AGM to reflect on its scorecard.
“We have not been able to hold the Annual General Assembly because we don’t have funds and we don’t have any donors currently willing or able to fund the Annual General Meeting,” Oyet noted.
He added: “An Annual General Meeting (AGM) is an expensive exercise; we need to bring representatives from each state and administrative area, which makes a total of 26 members.”
The Ujoss boss further highlighted that the journalists coming from states and three administrative areas to attend an event need to be given two-way tickets, accommodation, meals, plus transport refunds for the journalists present in Juba, leading to a bigger budget.
“In a nutshell, the cost of organising an AGM for UJOSS is between $ 20,000 and $30,000 unfortunately, at the moment, we don’t have the money and there is no donor able or willing to provide the funds,” he noted in a statement.
“As a result of not being able to have an AGM, we are unable to pass our new constitution, the new constitutions can only be passed by an AGM. In the absence, of new constitutions, we are using the old constitution until such a time that we shall have the AGM and pass the new constitution,” he added.
Oyet further told UJoSS critics to be constructive and factual in their comments, emphasising that the leadership would welcome constructive criticism.
“We are elected by journalists; we welcome constructive criticism of our leadership from anyone but criticizers should be factual. UJOSS Belong to all journalists of South Sudan,” Oyet noted.
“Mr. Oliver Modi democratically handed over power to the current leadership, when the time comes for us to hand over power, we shall do the same but it’s our collective duty as journalists to protect this institution, no one will come from another profession to build UJoSS for us,” he added.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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