Denay urges Kiir to reverse his removal

JUBA – The former governor of South Sudan’s Jonglei State, Denay Jock Chagor, has urged President Salva Kiir Mayardit to revert his decision replacing him after nearly four years in the position.

On Thursday night, Kiir issued a republican decree via the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) sacking Chagor, the leader of the South Sudan United Movement (SSUM) and replacing him with Mahjoub Biel Turuk.

Mahjoub is the Secretary-General of South Sudan’s National Democratic Movement (NDM) led by Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin. Both SSUM and NDM are founding members of the opposition consortium, South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) led by Josephine Lagu of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM).

Reacting to his dismissal, Chagor said his group is concerned about the removal, describing it as ‘unilateral’ citing provisions of the revitalized peace agreement. The peace deal gives the position of Jonglei state to SSOA, which is comprised of eight political organizations including SSUM.

“On behalf of South Sudan United Movement (SSUM), we raise concern about the unliteral decision to replace the position of Jonglei State Governor, a position which had been allocated to SSUM by the peace agreement arrangement but, now has been given to a member of National Democratic Movement (NDM),” Chagor said.

“As the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) is a coalition of political parties, various positions which are allocated to SSOA under Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCISS) were divided equally amongst the SSOA parties. As such, a change to the power sharing of positions amongst SSOA parties should be done through a consultative process among members and the Chairperson of SSOA who Hon. Josephine Lagu is. Unilateral decision-making is contrary to the operational principles of SSOA as a coalition, and the R-ARCISS,” he added.

Chagor did not indicate if he will stay in the office despite the removal but called on President Salva Kiir Mayardit to reconsider his decision.

“Although the Republican Decree has been announced on 29^th May 2024 by the office of the President, we urge all the parties to agreement to respect the peace agreement the power sharing decision procedures, and therefore we call for the decision to be reverse,” he added.