Senior officials in Lakes State were suspended yesterday after a teachers’ protest on Wednesday over alleged missing allowances payments.

Among those reportedly suspended are Kongor Deng Kongor, Director General of the Lakes State Ministry of Education, Martin Maciec Kuc, Secretary General of the State Government, Abraham Makur Mangok, Director General in the Ministry of Labour and Public Services, and James Kon Chadhor, head of the Workers’ Trade Union, by order of Caretaker Governor Matur Chut Dhuol.

The suspended officials will possibly be investigated for misinforming teachers, after accusations that the governor took teachers’ allowances.

State officials, in interviews aired on Radio Miraya today, said that the salaries issue had been misunderstood. One official stated that new austerity measures would not apply to the teachers.

A teacher who protested the failure to pay their dues said, “We have to be convinced by the national government, not the state government, because we are not trusting the state government.”

Another teacher added, “We have been given low allowances until now,” calling for payment of what was owed them.

The suspension comes the same day as the detention of state officials of similar stature in Northern Bahr al Ghazal, also in relation to a controversy over missing funds for teachers’ salaries.

Photo: Lakes state teachers demonstrate on the streets to demand allowances, 19 February 2014 (Sudan Tribune)