A document has been circulating online purporting that Other Political Parties (OPP) and South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) members were part of the nine elected members to represent South Sudan in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). This document is fake.

Following the announcement of the elected MPs, the fake document was first shared by South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) but deleted minutes later. The post was also shared here and here.

According to the South Sudan civil society activist Edmund Yakani, the copy is not correct, and it is aimed to trigger friction among South Sudanese. 

"We are aware that a few days ago, our government, through the national parliament, conducted the elections of South Sudanese to join the East African Legislative Assembly known as EALA and elections were conducted in a very credible, clean and transparent manner and 9 South Sudanese were elected to occupy the seats of South Sudan in EALA," Yakani said. 

Yakani added, "Now we have seen a paper in circulation on social media with a letterhead of the office of the Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly where two names of the independent candidates elected for EALA were replaced with two candidates, one from SSOA and one from OPP and stamped without the signature of the right honorable speaker. That document is fake. It is a document just to trigger tension and friction among South Sudanese," Yakani said.

Speake Jemma Nunu Kumba also posted the correct document signed by the Parliament clerk, Mr Makuc Makuc Ngong, on her verified Facebook page.

"The elected EALA members are on the left plain paper signed by the clerk to the TNLA, Mr Makuc Makuc Ngong, and the one to the right is fake and edited using OCR editor. OPP & SSOA had candidates, but none of their candidates made it through, so I call upon the public to disregard the rumours of alternating the winners with other candidates," the post read.

As freedom of speech is vital, such a post has the potential to cause tension among people. Edmund Yakani is calling on all South Sudanese to stop using fake information to drive public opinion.