Kiir appoints new SPLM deputy secretary general

October 29, 2015 (JUBA) – The South Sudanese president Salva Kiir has issued an executive order appointing Jemma Nunu Kumba as the new deputy secretary general of the country’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party.

Kumba, the state-owned SSTV reported, will assemble and recommend to the party chairperson the appointment of a new team of party officials to various positions at the national secretariats, recently dissolved by the National Liberation Council.

The president, in a separate order, dissolved national secretariats, implying that all the various positions at these secretariats were vacant until new appointments are made.

The order did not, however, specify whether the secretary general’s position would be filled with appointment by the president or remain vacant till a national convention was held.

Kumba, the South Sudanese national minister for water, electricity and dams, replaces Anne Itto, who was until now the deputy secretary general of ruling party.

Analysts, however, say Itto’s removal could be a political ploy to get rid of former secretary general Pagan Amum Okiech, who was reinstated in June in compliance with the implementation of the Arusha reunification agreement of the three factions of the ruling party, allegedly for signing the peace agreement with the armed opposition led by the country’s ex-vice president, Riek Machar.

(ST)