Eastern Equatoria State Governor Louis Lobong Lojore on Saturday indefinitely suspended Torit county commissioner Andrew Philipson from office and in the same decree appointed Jacob Attari Albano as the acting commissioner to manage the troubled county.
The decree did not mention any reason for the suspension but the governor cited a suspension letter from the leadership of Other Political Parties (OPP) dated 30 June 2021.
Andrew Philipson, a member of Other Political Parties (OPP), was appointed via presidential decree on 2 March.
The acting Torit commissioner took the oath of office earlier today at the state secretariat together with Namongin Lokeno, of the SPLM-IO who has been appointed a member of the anti-corruption commission in the state.
Speaking during the swearing-in ceremony at the state secretariat, Governor Louis Lobong said he was just announcing the decision of OPP leadership in the state who are also signatories to the peace agreement with a right to withdraw their candidates.
“They withdrew one person who was the commissioner of Torit County and they brought a letter to me to announce. So I am doing it on behalf of OPP and they brought Attari to act because we cannot leave a vacuum. After all, the decision of appointment of a full commissioner comes from the president and they have to go through a process by writing to the president who will appoint,” Governor Lobong said. “In the meantime, I have to act so that there is no vacuum in the leadership of the county. So, this is about that because some people are asking questions; does the governor have powers? I have very little power to act but not make a full appointment and this is all based on the consultation with the parties respectively, so I want to make this very clear,” he added.
Governor Lobong said he will follow up with the leadership in Juba to confirm the real appointment based on the peace agreement.
Meanwhile, the suspended commissioner, Andrew Philipson, expressed shock over his suspension and said he did not receive a letter from his party.
“I have a document in front of me and nothing is specified there. You can have an answer for it but for me, I have no answer for that. It was not the umbrella who appointed me. No, it was the National Alliance, I am under the National Alliance and we are together with the OPP umbrella in which each party has its administration. They were even surprised by my suspension because they did not commit themselves in writing. So, I will have to take this document and forward it to them because it was done without their knowledge,” Philipson explained.
For his part, Jacob Attari Albano hailed the state government and OPP umbrella for choosing him.
“I am appointed at a time when my county has a lot of problems and Torit County is one of the troubled counties in Eastern Equatoria, so it is going to be a task for me to put it right. I will try my level best to make Torit County a free county, it will change from a bad county to a free one where citizens will move freely and I will like to pass this message very clearly to the people around Torit. This time we need peace,” Commissioner Attari said.
He promised to work closely with the state government to support the county in implementing security reforms.