Governor warns against removing officials from Greater Pibor
August 13, 2014 (BOR) – The governor of South Sudan’s Jonglei state, John Kong Nyuon, has warned government officials against the removal of Pibor constitutional members from the state administration.
The Greater Pibor area was recently granted special status, but the central government has yet to issue any orders for the removal of officials in the state administration.
Nyuon told a meeting of government members at the South Sudan Hotel, that current government officials from Pochalla and Pibor counties would remain in their positions until the central government provided further instructions.
“You better wait and see what the government will do. It is not you to say what will be done, the government knows what to do and when,” said Nyuon.
“There are people beating drums in Juba and now they want us to join them; that cannot happen … we will be informed by Juba,” he added.
The governor was reacting to statements by people campaigning for the removal of Greater Pibor constitutional post holders from the state administration.
Jonglei rebel leader David Yau Yau was this week appointed by the president to head the Pibor administrative area.
The government signed a peace deal with Yau Yau’s South Sudan Democratic
Movement (SSDA/M) cobra faction, giving Greater Pibor, a semi-autonomous status, answerable directly to the presidency.
Yau Yau, as the chief administrator of the Greater Pibor autonomous area, is now equal to the state governor.
Jonglei’s deputy governor, finance minister, minister for gender affairs and the minister for child and social welfare are all members of the news administrative area and removing them would create a significant gap in the cabinet.
“I know all of us had heard about this agreement, but we did not understand it. The main thing is that we want peace in the country. The war we fought is enough. We don’t need more lives to lose. We don’t need more suffering than the one we went through,” he said.
“There are people, who are saying, ‘let this be done. Why was it not done this way?’ All these, my people, are not right. When CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) was signed, it did not happen one day that all South Sudanese moved from Khartoum to Juba … There was a process. Let us continue with our normal duties as usual,” Nyuon added.
The meeting in Bor was attended by all state directors, ministers and other officials from the civil service sector, as well as heads of organised forces and MPs.
(ST)