Chagor suspends 2 lawmakers after parliamentary impeachment of finance minister

JUBA – The governor of South Sudan’s Jonglei State, Denay Jock Chagor, on Friday suspended two members of the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly after participating in the scrutiny and the subsequent impeachment of the state finance minister.

In a gubernatorial decree dated 11 August 2022 and seen by Sudans Post, Governor Chagor who was appointed by Kiir in 2022 on the ticket of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) suspended Anter Bayak Kuol and Gatluak Gabriel John, both of whom are members of SSOA.

“In the exercise of powers conferred upon me under Article 99 (2) (a) of the Transitional Constitution of the government of Jonglei State, 2011 (as amended), read together with the Republican Decree No. 57/2020 of the Republic of South Sudan issued by the President of the Republic on 15th July 2020, I Denay Jock Chagor, Governor of Jonglei State, do hereby issue this Gubernatorial Decree for the Suspension of the members of parliament in Jonglei State Legislative Assembly (Anter Bayak Kuol and Gatluak Gabriel John), with the effect from 11th of August 2022 AD,” reads the decree by Chagor.

The governor said that the gubernatorial Decree No. 4/2022 “shall come in to force on the date of its signature by the Governor of the State.”

FINANCE MINISTER IMPEACHED

On Wednesday, the Jonglei State Transitional Legislative Assembly passed a vote of no conference against the state finance minister Riak Yuek over allegations of incompetence and widespread financial corruption.

“After snubbing our summons twice, the minister showed up after our third summon only to say that he was not prepared and requested more time which we granted,” she  Grace Mathot, the spokesperson of parliament in Jonglei state.

“On Tuesday, when he appeared, he was unable to answer our questions like to disclose names of the signatories to the state accounts and how much money the state receives as Personal Income Tax from NGOs,” she added.

Grace said that “During the sitting, we were 74 lawmakers. Sixty-eight members voted to impeach the minister, and the rest voted against the motion. For us, we were not planning to impeach the minister because what we wanted was a solution to our civil servants’ concerns. But the problem was that the minister refused to be transparent.”