South Sudan president names SPLA-IO general as deputy interior minister

JUBA – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has on Monday evening issued a Republic Order named a senior SPLA-IO commander allied to First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny as the country’s deputy minister of interior.

This comes two weeks after former information minister of Warrap state Nyenagwek Kuol who was nominated to the position by the SPLM-IO asked Machar, the SPLM-IO leader, to withdraw her nomination.

Nyenagwek was nominated to the position by the SPLM-IO in February last year, but President Salva Kiir did not appoint her into the position sparking anger among the SPLM-IO leadership over the rejection.

In a decree read out on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Kiir named General Puok Koang of the SPLA-IO as the new deputy minister of interior.

Kiir also dismissed the governor of central bank Dier Tong Ngor and named Moses Makur Deng as the new governor of the bank.

Kiir did not give reason as to why he replaced the central bank chief who has since introduced wide-ranging reforms to the financial markets last April, including a requirement that commercial banks quote a single foreign exchange rate to limit market distortions.

In a separate decree, Kiir also fired the First Undersecretary for Finance and Planning Ochum Genes Karlo, and replaced him with Simon Ladu.

In yet another decree, Kiir named Ochum as the new undersecretary for the ministry of trade and industry.