By Matia Samuel Timatio
The Governor of Western Equatoria State and his Deputy Dr. Gaaniko Kennedy are in dispute over firing Mr. Peter Simon Sarawasi, the state minister for Housing, Land and Public Utility was suspended for selling plots within Yambio Municipality and Ministry’s assets.
The Deputy Governor refuted the order, saying the Governor has no right to suspend the Minister. He said that the suspended Minister was appointed by the President, and if there is any order for suspension, it must be in consultation with the Chair of SPLM at State level.
Speaking to No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper on Phone from Yambio, Dr. Gaaniko condemned the suspension of the state minister, calling it illegal and violation of the revitalized peace agreement.
The State’s Deputy Governor outlined the reasons as to why he doesn’t accept the suspension of the minister;
“Number one, I was not consulted, two, the governor has no any right to suspend the minister on the RTGoNU ticket without any consultation with the party which is SPLM, third, I am the deputy governor who is the administrator of the state in case the minister has issues, so I am the one to take the administrative measures; forth, the person who issued the letter from the ministry of housing is the D.G., to us it’s a violation of the peace agreement,” Dr. Ganiko said.
The Deputy Governor stated that consultation is very important for the political parties to address issues, adding that the President of the Republic instructed all the governors to consult their deputies when it comes to any major decisions concerning the state but did not happen in the state.
“We are not going to allow this suspension of illegal order from the governor to materialize; on Tuesday the minister will resume his work as normal. We have Council of Ministers where we should discuss issues related to different ministries should be deliberated,” he explained.
He however accused the governor for not respecting the SPLM party, calling him the governor of I.O. not for the State.
“It’s not the first time the governor is doing this, he does not give any respect to the SPLM, the ministry of Education money, the money of September and October the governor went with it to Juba which was 400 million, the money of November and December the governor took 100 million from the ministry of Education, we don’t know what he did with the money which is totally intimidations and humiliation of SPLM which we will not accept because we have been patient all this time,” the Deputy Governor stressed.
He reveled that the governor is supposed to be suspended by the President for many reasons which the governor deserves by himself adding that the governor was not supposed to make judgments on the minister before proven guilty.
The governor needs to be suspended because the money for the Defunct States was eaten by him (the Governor) and State Minister of Finance, but they were not suspended, he stressed.
“Money for civil servants for the 32 states was eaten by him and he was not suspended, money for education he is eating it alone, he is the head of the state but has failed to settle the insecurity in Tambura County and against his soldiers in Rangu Payam are stealing people’s things and he is not talking about it, so he needs to be suspended,” Kennedy said.