Michael Makuei refuses COVID-19 test after close friend tested positive
File: Information minister and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth
JUBA – South Sudan’s information minister Michael Makuei Lueth has refused to test for the coronavirus after a close friend and former senior government official, Paul Mayom Akech, tested positive for the virus last week.
Sources speaking to Sudans Post from Juba said the information minister was approached by members of the high-level taskforce last week for testing but refused to do so saying he was fine.
Michael Makuei who is also the government spokesman and a close early of president Salva Kiir then reported told members of the high-level taskforce that he would not give sample for testing because that should be done at his own consent.
“The minister of information Michael Makuei has refused to give sample for the coronavirus after he was requested by the high-level taskforce to give samples to the ministry of health to test him for coronavirus,” a source at Dr. John Garang infectious Diseases Center told Sudans Post.
“He said ‘I will not give samples without me interested’ and then members of the high-level taskforce left along with the doctors,” he added.
Controversial figure
Michael Makuei is a controversial figure in South Sudan’s politics. In January, the information minister referred to an attack by Arab armed men on Abyei area as a Sudanese affairs causing uproar on social media.
Coronavirus cases in South Sudan
Coronavirus cases in the world’s youngest nation continue to rise as senior government officials continue to die or test positive for the COVID-19, the virus which is associated with the novel coronavirus.
Paul Mayom Akec, a friend to Michael Makuei and the former minister of commerce and trade is the latest senior government official to test positive for the coronavirus.
He is the current minister of interior.