The newly appointed minister of local government and law enforcement agencies in Warrap State, William Deng Koor, has said his first act in office will be to review the ministry’s employee files to identify unqualified officials.
He made the statement shortly after taking the oath of office on Monday in the presence of Governor Gen. Aleu Ayieny who tasked the new minister with tackling the issue of unqualified local administrators in the state.
“As you know, the defunct 32 states created so many messes in terms of employment and some appointments of local government staff did not follow the right procedures through the Public Service Act,” Minister Deng explained. “People were just employed regardless of their academic qualifications, some of them in super grades. So, this will be my first work, to scrutinize them by checking their curriculum vitae.”
He said that the local government administrators will be vetted using the Local Government Act.
“The primary arrangement is to verify the grades of payam administrators and paramount chiefs because some senior officials do not know how to read and write. How then can they know the laws in the ministry of local government or the Local Government Act 2009?” He asked. “That is why the governor instructed me to implement the Act.”
According to Minister Deng, the local administrators holding superpositions without qualification will be grouped as unclassified staff while the qualified staff will be promoted to lead as Payam heads and executive directors.
Meanwhile, William Wol Mayom, the Warrap State government spokesperson said of the three officials appointed last week, only two were sworn in on Monday.
“Governor Aleu and the President of the High Court oversaw the swearing-in ceremony of the minister of local government and the head of the Justice and Employee Commission but the newly appointed chairperson of the state HIV/AIDS commission declined to be sworn,” he said.
Wol, however, did not say why the HIV/AIDS commission chairperson refused to be sworn in.
Last Wednesday, in a decree, read on the national broadcaster, South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Gen. Ayieny relieved Anei Arop Agany and replaced him with William Deng Koor as the new minister of local government and law enforcement agencies.
The decree also relieved William Deng Koor from the Justice and Employee Commission and Madut Akucpiir Madut as Member of Parliament and replaced them with Arop Arop Akol and Madit Mawien respectively.