The commissioner of Yei River County Cosmas Bidali Wori-Kojo has defected to the SPLM-IO led by ousted vice president Riak Macher over the weekend.
Other senior officials who defected together with the commissioner included the gender director-general and former speaker for Yei municipal legislative council.
The defectors accused the current government of being corrupt, oppressive, tribalistic and less minded on service delivery and development to the poor people at the grassroots.
The commissioner and his team defected together with the two official cars including the county administrative flag.
Cosmas Bidali had been loyal to the ruling party SPLM throughout the civil war until now.
Separately, Governor David Lokonga Moses secured the release of 22 youths on Friday who had been detained at the military barracks known as “Amiya” for several months. Upon release they were warned to distance themselves from ‘rebel’ activities. They had been kept without adequate food and healthcare and without being allowed to receive family visitors.