S. Sudan: Why the regional cooperation undersecretary was axed Article Comments (13) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 11, 2011 (JUBA) – The decision made by South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, to relieve Salwa Gabriel Berberi, formerly undersecretary in the regional cooperation ministry, of her duties stemmed from an alleged conflict between the latter and two senior ministers in the southern government, Sudan Tribune has learned. The new undersecretary in the ministry of regional cooperation, Majok Guandong (ST) The undersecretary in South Sudan’s regional cooperation ministry has been removed and immediately replaced, in an impromptu through a presidential decree issued on Saturday 9 April and immediately replaced by Majok Guandong, Sudan’s former ambassador to Kenya. Guandong’s new appointment came as a surprise given that he had recently been appointed along with 15 other Southerners as ambassadors to undisclosed foreign countries. Now fresh details have begun emerging on why Kiir decided to crack the whip, with just months to the long-awaited South Sudan independence declaration. Creation of the new nation follows a successful January referendum, during which the population overwhelming chose separation. An official from the government-initiated referendum taskforce told Sudan Tribune that the ex-regional cooperation undersecretary was axed over her alleged lack of cooperation with two ministers appointed to oversee the technical working group improving South Sudan international relations. The group is headed by Deng Alor, South Sudan’s regional cooperation minister. “She [the former undersecretary] did not want to cooperate with the ministers on this technical working group. There was serious conflict of interest between her and these ministers. This matter had to be reported to the president since the team was not making any progress in their work,” said the official, who preferred anonymity. Divided into sub-committees, these technical working groups have been tasked with handling various issues, including international relations, rule of law, governance, the economy and service delivery. Diplomacy, aid, foreign relations, statehood, citizenship, infrastructure, human resource management, finance and economy are some of the key themes tackled by Berberi’s group. By assuming a new role as national expert in the president’s office, analysts say, Berberi will function more like a minister without portfolio. In a related development, the recent controversy that gagged the regional cooperation ministry over the fate of money released by the referendum taskforce to the eight countries that coordinated the referendum may have cost Berberi her powerful job. According to the referendum taskforce, each of the western countries (Australia, US, UK and Canada) were allocated US$300,000 while the African nations (Uganda, Kenya, Egypt and Ethiopia) each got US$200,000. “We got information that about US$80,000 was deducted from the money allocated for each of these countries. Up to now, officials from the regional cooperation ministry have failed to explain these irregularities,” the official continued. He added, “I think the president should make these officials accountable for public funds. This is ridiculous and these corrupt officials need to be exposed at all costs in public interest.” (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
