SPLM-IO says Olony was not appointed due to ‘tribal mindset’
South Sudan’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar walks after a meeting on the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace deal in Juba, on October 20, 2019. (Photo credit: Getty Images)
June 29, 2020 (SSNN) – The main armed opposition group, SPLM-IO, led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has said General Johnson Olony, the group’s nominee for Upper Nile state governor, was not appointed on Monday due tribal mindset and objection by the Apadang community.
This comes after information minister Michael Makuei Lueth said the appointment was not made because the powerful Olony was not in the country where all his colleagues who were appointed on Monday are.
However, in a statement, Dut Majokdit, a senior member of the SPLM-IO, said the claim by Makuei was not true and that the real reason behind the delay of Olony’s appointment is that the Apadang community of Upper Nile state was objecting to Olony’s appointment as governor.
“For those who claimed that it’s because there is preparation underway in Khartoum to airlift General Johnson Olony to Juba and to be appointed by the President as the Governor of Upper Nile State is not true because many governors were appointed yesterday [Monday] by the President while they were outside the country,” Majokdit said in a statement seen by South Sudan News Now.
“Dinka Padang has written their petition to the President to reject General Johnson for becoming the Governor of Upper Nile State due to tribal mindset that Olony is a threat to lives of Dinka Community of Upper Nile State which is far from the truth,” he said in the statement.
He explained that President Salva Kiir Mayardit has no right to object to any nominee of any of the parties to the revitalized peace agreement as it is up to the respective parties to decide on who to nominate to what portfolio.
“President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Dinka Padang or any Jieng Community have no right to reject General Johnson Olony to become the Governor of Upper Nile State since that Upper Nile State is allocated to the SPLM-IO, and Dr. Riek Machar Teny and the SPLM-IO Leadership have nominated him to that position,” he said.
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