Kiir sacks health minister, names replacement

JUBA — South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Wednesday night issued a decree sacking the country’s minister of health, Elizabeth Achuei, who was appointed to the position in 2020 at the onset of the transitional period.

The decree readout on the state-own South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) did not give reasons for the sacking which comes at a time of tensions between the peace partners.

In a separate decree also readout on the state-own television channel, Kiir named Awel Deng, a lawmaker representing SPLA-IO in the peace parliament, as South Sudan’s health minister.

Deng who is also the current secretary-general of the SPLM-IO women league hails from Warrap state like the president.

She was appointed last year as a member of the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly representing the main armed opposition SPLM-IO under Machar.

Machar had proposed Awel’s appointment to replace Achuei from the ministry last year, but Kiir has been refusing her appointment without giving reasons to the main armed opposition leader.