The deputy governor of Jonglei State, Jacob Akech Dengdit, on Tuesday, said the swearing-in of the newly appointed Bor County Commissioner Samuel Ateny Pech will take place as planned despite protests.
A group of local businesswomen took to the streets of Bor town Monday to protest the appointment of Samuel Ateny Pech as the new commissioner of Bor County. He is the immediate former mayor of Bor town and replaced James Tuor Kur as commissioner.
Ateny was first removed by the state governor from his position as the Bor town mayor following rising tensions between the Bor Municipal Council and local businesswomen who accused the municipal authority of allotting their market land to investors.
“The SPLM has reshuffled its side of the government and everybody is going to be sworn in according to the rules and laws of South Sudan,” Akech told Radio Tamazuji on Tuesday.
He said Samuel Ateny will take oath after the visit of Vice President for Service Cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol who is in the state for an official mission.
“We have a big visit today coming to our state, the vice president for service cluster, and then after the visit the swearing-in will take place and we will request the governor as the SPLM party to swear in our members,” Akech said. “This demand (rejecting the commissioner) is not that of the SPLM party. Yesterday the SPLM party here in the state issued its position after consultations within the party and this means that I asked people to do the work of the government within the seats of the SPLM.”
For his part, Samuel Ateny Pech, the new Bor County Commissioner, said the group who demonstrated on Monday was paid by his opponents.
“This is not a concern and these women are led by the wrong people, motivated by politicians who do not want the commissioner of Bor County to take the oath,” he said. “These are vegetable sellers plus Bodaboda riders. These people here have no concern with the county commissioner and I do not think the five payams of Bor County have rejected the commissioner. The over 200 chiefs of Bor County have not rejected the new commissioner so why in particular are these women in the town going to the county which is the rural council to go and reject the commissioner?”
Bol Deng Bol, the chairman of the Jonglei Civil Society Network (JCSN), warned that swearing in the new commissioner will spark violence.
“They are saying they are going to swear in Samuel Pech as the new commissioner of Bor and this is going to spark another conflict and I think the deputy governor should be made aware that if things are done by force, they can easily get out of hands,” said Deng.