Governor Alfred Futuyo and deputy governor Dr. Kennedy Gaaniko

The Presidency has summoned the Western Equatoria State governor and his deputy to Juba.

“In the meantime, the governor and his deputy should report to Juba under the instruction of the First Vice President,” the Presidential Affairs Minister, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters Friday evening.

This comes after a week-long standoff between Alfred Futuyo and his deputy, Kennedy Gaaniko who have traded accusations over administrative malfunctions in the state.

Last week, the state government fell apart after deputy governor, Gaanika announced he and cabinet ministers from SPLM-IG, SSOA, and FDs withdrew their active participation in state affairs.

The dissident group accused governor Futuyo of suspending the regular council of ministers meeting indefinitely to dodge questioning over the alleged reduction of civil servants’ salaries.

Gaaniko also claimed that the governor and state finance minister unilaterally cut civil servants’ salary arrears without consulting the director general of finance and the cabinet.

However, members of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance and former political detainees distanced themselves from the deputy governor’s claims.

Meanwhile, governor Futuyo dismissed the allegations saying, the deputy governor and the director general conspired against him to cover up stealing money from the state coffers.

In response to the feud, the presidency has called the rivaling leaders to Juba for consultations with the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar.

Meanwhile, Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the Presidency has resolved to dispatch a national team to investigate the dispute between the governor and his deputy.

“The government is going is going to send a national team in order to go and investigate WES to find out what is going in that part of the country and that the national investigation team report to the national government.”

The yet-to-be-reconstituted team is expected to submit the final report to the presidency.