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May 25, 2012 (JUBA) - The parliament of South Sudan’s Warrap state on Tuesday approved a new cabinet, weeks after deferment.
- A Dinka boy in Warrap state, South Sudan (Getty)
Speaking in an interview with Sudan Tribune, shortly after the vote to approve the new cabinet, member of parliament, Mayar Deng Mayar, said 45 members, including the speaker, were present during deliberations.
Of the 44 members who voted, 37 were in favour and 7 against. Mayar said 13 of the new cabinet members appointed by South Sudan’s first female governor, Nyandeng Malek Deliech, have no previous ministerial experience.
Officials from the state government described the appointment of three female cabinet members as working towards achieving a stipulation of the South Sudan Transitional Constitution; 25 percent representation for women at state and national levels of government.
“This cabinet is inclusive. It represents all the counties of Warrap State,” Mayar told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday from Kuajok, the state capital. He said their priority will be security and the delivery of basic services.
He said that the new cabinet would support the Governor to improve the security situation in the state, upon which development is contingent.
Joseph Akol Wek, a former youth chairperson who works at the state parliament congratulated the governor for appointing her new cabinet and expressed happiness in the appointment of the new minister of health, whom he described as a “capable and right person in the right place”.
“This is a fair cabinet. Some communities which were not happy are now celebrating. There are no negative reactions which I have seen, although this cabinet has taken a long time to be announced,” said Akol.
Akol said new appointees include Acuil Akoc Mager as minister of finance, replacing Majok Bol Kur who the house voted to remove, accusing him of financial irregularities in the 2010 budget. However, he survived the vote with the backing of the governor and speaker to replace Kuot Mawien Kuot as minister of agriculture.
Solomon Angui Mayuot is now minister of health; Andrea Aguer Ariik, minister of education; Madhel Malek, minister of public service; Nyanaguek Kuol Mareng and Lual Madhang, ministers of information and youth; Victoria Tito, minister of social development; former Gogrial East county commissioner Paul Gum Madul, minister of animal resources; Atem Atem, minister for local government; Achol Chier Rehan retained her post as minister of parliamentary affairs.
Rehan commands popular support and is one of the longest serving female politicians in the state.
She has held a number of administrative positions, including her first job as field supervisor working for the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association (SSRRA) during the Sudanese civil war which ended in 2005 and led to South Sudan’s secession in 2011.
(ST)
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