The people of Panyijiar County in South Sudan's Unity state are said to have rejected Colonel William Gathjieth Mabor, who was nominated by the SPLM-IO as the commissioner of the county.
The Unity State Minister of Information and Communication, Gabriel Hon Makuei, told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that Col Gathjieth reported to Panyijiar County but was rejected by the people there.
“The commissioner of Panyijiar was rejected by his community and now is back to Unity state and on his way to Juba. He went there by himself and he found only the chiefs. He is the SPLM-IO nominee and has been rejected by the SPLM-IO within Panyijiar County. And then somebody illegally imposed himself as a commissioner,” Minister Hon said.
He said the SPLM-IO had formed a committee to investigate and resolve the impasse.
“The officer of the chairman of the SPLM-IO formed a team to solve that problem but they did not solve anything. In the process, the commissioner was left by himself so when he realized that the community rejected him, he decided to go back. He has gone back to Unity State headquarters and the day before yesterday (Tuesday) he left for Juba. I don't know whether he has been called by his chairman,” Hon added.
Hon said the community had embraced someone else as their commissioner.
“The community accepted someone to be the commissioner but not that guy called William Gathjeth. So, Panyijiar has no commissioner,” Hon said.
For his part, Puok Both Baluang, the SPLM-IO director of information and public relations, admitted that there was a misunderstanding regarding the SPLM-IO nominated commissioner for Panyijiar County and reiterated that a committee had been formed to mitigate the problem.
“What happened in Panyijiar County is that there was a misunderstanding from the commander who is based in Panyijiar regarding the appointment of Colonel Gathjieth Mabor. The SPLM-IO chairman formed a committee composed of some political leaders who hail from the area to quell the tensions and seek a solution. The commissioner has not assumed his office yet,” Both explained. “The committee is still going on with investigations and trying to narrow down different opinions between the military commander and the appointed commissioner and the political leadership in South Sudan because the appointed commissioner is directly answerable to the national government as well.”
According to Both, the former commissioner of Panyijiar handed over power peacefully following a directive by the party's chairman but that the rejection of his successor is from the local communities.
“There is a committee formed by the chairman and composed of high-level political leaders including members of parliament from the Panyijar area. The committee is headed by James Mabor. This committee is tasked with investigating this matter and finding an amicable solution,” Both said.
He said the committee is on the ground carrying out consultations with the local community to resolve the issue.