December 31, 2012 (JUBA) The Governor of South Sudan’s Central Equatoria state, Clement Wani Konga on Saturday reshuffled his government, putting in place a 15-member cabinet.

The impromptu move came at the end of the first-ever commissioners’ forum held Yei River County, located about 100 miles south-west of Juba.

Among Konga’s appointments were David Lokonga, formerly the deputy mayor of Juba City Council as the new Minister for Youth and Sports. H.W Hakim Deng takes over as mayor.

Also relieved of his duty was Allala Yunis Loro, who served as the state legislative assembly Clerk. He now becomes the Executive Director for the much-hyped office for reconstruction and development fund in the state.

It is unclear what prompted the Governor to make the decision, which took many citizens in the state by surprise, given its timing.

The state has in recent years, been at logger heads with the central government over tax revenues. In October this year, Governor Konga threatened to pull it out of South Sudan’s centralized tax collection system, saying the system had been corrupted, resulting in the massive loss of revenues.

Konga, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, said his state would, effective from November, unilaterally deploy tax collectors on the state’s international borders with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Last year, the national government initiated a new centralized tax collection system in which it collects various categories of taxes on one table on behalf of all the levels of government and distributes to each level their shares.

However, Konga insists his state, which used to collect an average of SSP 11m per year on its own, now attains only about SSP 1.5m, according report released by the state revenue authority.

He largely attributed the sharp decline in state revenues collected to the inefficiency in the centralized tax collection system.

Meanwhile, below is the new list of Central Equatoria state ministers.

1. Cecilia Oba Tito, Minister of Cabinet Affairs
2. Prof. Paul Ladu Bureng, Minister of Finance and Economic Development
3. Jacob Aligo Lo-Ladu, Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports
4. Michael Roberto Kenyi, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry
5. Emmanuel Ija Baya, Minister of Health
6. John Malish Duke, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
7. Michael Tongun Martin, Minister of Cooperative and Rural Development
8. Prof. Scopas Dima Jibi, Minister of General Education and Instruction
9. Mary Apayi Ayiga, Minister of Gender and Social Development
10. Suba Samuel Mannasseh, Minister Physical Infrastructure
11. Albert Pitya Redentore, Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement
12. Valentino Kenyi Pitya, Minister of Labour and Public Service and Human Resource Development
13. Gerald Francis, Minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries
14. David Lokonga Moses, Minister of Youth and Sports
15. Roben Latio, Minister of Environment

(ST)