South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir yesterday decreed the appointment of a new information commissioner and deputy commissioner and removed a member of the Media Authority, a new regulatory body.
Kiir appointed Nicodemus Ajak Bior as Information Commissioner and Moses Wol Deng Atak as Deputy Information Commissioner. The appointments took effect from 22 September.
The position of information commissioner was created by the Access to Information Act, one of the three media bills passed by the government last year with the support of a section of the media. The stated purpose of the position is to promote lawful disclosures of government information in response to inquiries by media or researchers, for example.
Nicodemus is the former press secretatry of the Ministry of Petroleum, Mining & Industry. Wol Deng was the former editor-in-chief of Nation Mirror, a newspaper forcibly closed by security agents earlier this year. He is also a former MP from Warrap State.
In another decree, Kiir removed a member of the earlier appointed Media Authority, Awak Bior Ajang. A source explained that Awak earlier had requested to be removed from the board, citing a potential conflict of interest with a job she held as an advisor to the European Union Delegation in Juba.
Kiir appointed Irene Ayaa as board member of the Media Authority in place of Awak Bior.
Irene Ayaa is currently working for the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS). Kiir’s earlier appointee Awak Bior was also a board member of Gurtong Peace and Media Trust, according to the website Global Shapers.
Other appointed members of the Media Authority include Lt. Majok Ayii Muorwel, a key officer within the media department of the National Security, cabinet affairs ministry staffer Adelmajid Machar, and lawyer Atong Majok Kur, among others.
The two governmental media authorities have not been operationalized in part due to lack of funds. Kiir first appointed Media Authority members in May this year but the group has done nothing so far.
File photo: President Salva Kiir at a parade in Juba on 9 July 2015
Related:
Kiir appoints new members to media oversight body (14 May 2015)