South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has sacked the country’s deputy finance minister, state-owned television reported Friday night, the first replacement in the post since March 2020.
Kiir gave no reason for firing Agok Makur, who was appointed on 12 March 2020. Makur, a lawyer, is a senior member of the opposition SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Riek Machar.
In another presidential decree, President Kiir appointed Bech George Anyak, a member of the SPLM-IO Party, as the new Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning.
Mr George had previously served as state finance minister in the defunct Eastern Lakes State.
The South Sudanese leader also appointed Emmanuel Primo Okello as Western Bahr el-Ghazal Governor, replacing Sarah Cleto Hassan, who was appointed in June 2020.
Cleto, a senior member of the SPLM-IO, was the only woman among the governors appointed by President Salva Kiir in 2020.
The Undersecretary for Roads and Bridges, Philip Thon Juarwel, was replaced by John Khot Chol Deng.
In the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Kiir revoked the appointment of Bol Duop Nyot and Changkuoth Bichiok Reth, both representing the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) and replaced them with Tut Gatkek Tut (SSOA) and Agok Makur Kur.
In the Upper House of Parliament’s Council of States, Kiir revoked the appointment of Tut Gatkek Tut (SSOA) and Madelina Angelo Enzein (SPLM-IO) and appointed Sarah Cleto Hassan (SPLM-IO) and Bol Duop Nyuot (SSOA) as their replacements.
In September, South Sudan’s unity government approved a two-year extension of the transitional period.
The extension shifts the end of the transitional period under the 2018 revitalised agreement from February 2025 to February 2027 and moves the scheduled elections from December 2024 to December 2026.