Denay Chagor ‘not capable’ of governing Jonglei – Kuol Manyang

JUBA – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has been told by a group of leaders from Jonglei state led by former defense minister and current senior presidential advisor that Jonglei state governor Kuol Manyang Juuk is not capable of governing the restive state and should be removed, a senior government official said.

The group of Jonglei state elders led by Kuol Manyang and John Kong Nyuon, both of whom have served as governors of Jonglei and South Sudan defense ministers, met President Kiir on 2nd of February in his office at J1 to discuss the recent deadly attack in which suspected Murle armed criminals killed scores of people in Baidit of Jonglei.

Speaking to Sudans Post this afternoon, the official the elders told President Kiir that Governor Chagor is not capable of handling Jonglei state and should be removed as soon as possible, but were told by the president that the terms of the revitalized peace agreement does not mandate the president to replace a governor without the consent and the recommendation of his party.

“When they arrived in the office, Kuol Manyang and John Kong Nyuon started the talk by praising President Kiir and at the end they told him that Governor Denay Chagor was ruining his good legacy in Jonglei state and the cry of Jonglei people under his leadership is threatening the popularity of the party in Jonglei,” the official said.

“They said Denay is a young man who cannot handle a state like Jonglei which has been in ethnic violence for many years and that there was need for him to be removed immediately, but the president told them that it was not possible under the terms of the agreement and the Jonglei violence has been there since before his appointment,” he added.

‘Individuals of their own interests’

In reaction, a Jonglei state lawmaker urged President Salva Kiir Mayardit to turn deaf hear to the demand of the Jonglei elders saying they are not peace and development of the state, but instead a group of self-centered individuals whom he accused of only caring for their interests.

“Your excellency, It’s  imperative  to noted that the group  of the so called Jonglei state elders who went to Your esteemed  office on  2nd  of February  2022, demanding  for removal  of energetic  young  leader  Hon. Governor  Denay J. Chagor, are individuals  of their own interests,” Lawmaker Anter Bayak Kuol said in the statement extended to Sudans Post.

“Whatever they said doesn’t represents the interests  and welfare of the people of Jonglei state this group are addicts of politicians, who are Juba-based and some of them have never stepped foot or visited the people of Jonglei state  in their constituencies,” the lawmaker said.

He accused the lawmakers of being “good in manufacturing  propaganda against successive Jonglei Governors, who have not made own their interests  for instance , if  the Governor  didn’t  appoint their relatives  in the state government, that become  a crime  to the Governor  according  to their interests. Those elders are just jealous of seeing young energetic leader made as Governor of Jonglei state,” he added.

He stressed: “Therefore; I strongly appeal to Your Excellency the President of the Republic of South Sudan Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, not to listen to such groups of political opportunists who call themselves Jonglei elders.”