Son of N. Bahr el Ghazal governor appointed as deputy cabinet minister on SPLM-IO ticket

JUBA — South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has appointed — after nomination by his first deputy Dr. Riek Machar — Garang Tong Akeen Ngor, son of the governor of the country’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, as deputy minister of cabinet affairs.

Garang replaces the designated speaker of the Transitional Council of States Deng Deng Akoon who was until last week the deputy minister of cabinet affairs.

In the presidential decree read out on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), President Kiir cited powers rendered to him under the transitional constitution of the country as amended in 2015 and the revitalized peace agreement.

Kiir was expected to also appoint Nyenagwek Kuol who was nominated by Machar seven months ago as deputy minister of interior, but did not however appoint the senior opposition official.

Sources with direct knowledge of the situation said the South Sudanese leader is not happy about the opposition nomination of the powerful female politician who comes from the oil-rich and disputed region of Abyei.

Nyenagwek is to replace Mabior Garang De Mabior, the Chairperson of the SPLM-IO National Committee for Information and Public Relations, who resigned last year after serving for days as deputy minister of interior to protest lack of political will from Kiir to implement the peace agreement.