South Sudan’s president fires 3 ministers, governor

JUBA, South Sudan

South Sudan's president sacked three ministers and the governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal state Monday in his latest Cabinet reshuffle.

In the first decree read out on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Salva Kiir fired Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Wek Mamer Kuol, replacing him with Joseph Geng Akec.

In another decree, Kiir appointed Mary Nawai as Youth and Sport Minister, replacing Akec.

In a third decree, Kiir dismissed Nawai, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, and replaced her with Kuol.

In the fourth decree, Kiir sacked Emmanuel Okello, the governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal state, and replaced him with Sherif Daniel Sherif.

He also dismissed Taban Abel Aguek as the deputy commissioner general of the South Sudan Revenue Authority, replacing him with John Malek.

No reasons were given for the dismissals.

The oil-rich nation became the world's newest country in 2011 after seceding from Sudan, but it was then engulfed by civil war after Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar fell out.

A 2018 power-sharing agreement has been fraught with problems.

The peace deal gives the president the prerogative to appoint and dismiss government officials at both the national and state levels.

He can only appoint and dismiss officials who belong to other political parties with the consent of the leadership of those parties.