JUBA – South Sudan’s Minister of Health has defended recent leadership changes within the ministry, challenging critics who oppose the decisions to take the matter to court.
This came after Dr. Sunday De John, a medical doctor, political analyst, and opposition political figure, criticized the removal of Dr. Kediende Mapour Akec as Executive Director of the National Public Health Institute (NPHI) in an open letter addressed to Special Presidential Envoy Adut Salva Kiir and other government officials.
Dr. De John claimed that Dr. Kediende’s removal followed a dispute with Health Minister Luke Thompson over vehicles donated to the NPHI for Ebola preparedness.
According to Dr. De John, the dispute arose after Minister Thompson Thoan Teny allegedly ordered the embattled executive director, Dr. Kediende Mapuor Akech, to hand over five of the 10 vehicles donated to the NPHI.
Dr. Kediende reportedly refused to comply with the directive.
Speaking during a press conference in Juba on Wednesday, Minister Luke Thompson dismissed criticism over the leadership changes at the National Public Health Institute (NPHI), maintaining that the decisions were made within the ministry’s mandate.
“Whoever wishes to challenge that decision has the right to challenge that through our judicial system,” Thompson told journalists on Wednesday.
He argued that former Executive Director Dr. Kediende Mapuor Akech was not a presidential appointee and therefore had the authority to dismiss him upon the recommendation of the NPHI Board of Directors.
“First, I wish to state with absolute authority and certainty that the executive director of the National Public Health Institute, the former, is not an appointee of the president. He is not an appointee of the president. I want that to be taken clearly,” he said.
Thompson said the National Public Health Institute Act of 2023 gives the NPHI Board of Directors a key role in the dismissal and appointment.
“This is the National Public Health Institute, Act 2023. The Executive Director of the National Public Health Institute is appointed by the minister at the pleasure, will, and wish of the members of the Board of Directors of the National Public Health Institute.”
He added that even the minister cannot appoint an executive director without a recommendation from the board.
“I do not have the substantive power to appoint the executive director if he or she is not recommended by the board,” Thompson said.
Thompson said the dispute followed a June 26 meeting of the NPHI Board, where 12 of its 19 members met with a legally constituted quorum and withdrew an earlier recommendation supporting the former executive director.
“On the 26th of June, the Board of Directors of the National Public Health Institute met in a legally constituted quorum of 12 out of 19 and resolved to withdraw a decision they made on the 22nd of January, recommending the appointment of the Executive Director,” he said.
“So they withdrew that confidence in the person of the Executive Director. It was transmitted to me on the same date.”
The minister said he spent about two months trying to convince the board to reconsider its decision, but his efforts failed.
“There is a two-month period. In those two months I was engaging the board with an intent to persuade them to at least stay their decision, but it did not work,” he said.
Thompson said two deputies of the former executive director later came to his office intending to resign, forcing him to consider what he described as the best interest of the public.
“Because if the Board withdrew the confidence and trust in you, I recommended that a new person be appointed, which is the basic legally provided authority,” he said.
He insisted that he acted within the law and urged anyone who disagrees to seek a judicial ruling.
“Because if a person is aggrieved by a presidential or a ministerial decision as recourse to the law, they should go to the judiciary of South Sudan,” Thompson said.
“If I superseded or if I exceeded the powers vested in me by the law, then the judiciary will advise. It is not political. It was an administrative decision.”
Thompson also dismissed allegations that he removed the former NPHI director after requesting five vehicles and being refused.
“On the issue that I removed the executive director because I requested five cars and he declined… I actually ignored having a word on this,” Thompson said.
His explanation was intended to counter claims that the request for vehicles was personal or connected to the leadership dispute at the NPHI.
Thompson said he requested two cars for official Ebola response duties, not for personal use.
