Dr. Lam Akol speaks to Eye Radio in Juba on December 4, 2019 | Credit | Charles Wote

A senior opposition leader has expressed disappointment over the failure by the President to appoint a nominee forwarded by his party for Jonglei State governor.

Dr. Lam Akol, who is the Secretary-General of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance, pointed out that they did name a candidate for the appointment named Mahjoub Biel Turuk, who hails from the state.

“We made the nomination and it was not announced, and we have not yet got the reason why it was not announced,” Dr Akol said on the Dawn show.

He, however, blamed a section of the Opposition Alliance for having ulterior motives in derailing the appointment of his preferred nominee.

On Monday, President Salva Kiir appointed eight governors – six from his ruling party SPLM and two from the SPLM-IO.

There was no mention of a governor for Jonglei or Upper Nile states.

Earlier, a meeting between President Kiir and SPLM-IO leader, Machar allocated Jonglei to SSOA and Upper Nile to SPLM-IO.

But a section of SSOA led by the chairperson, Josephine Joseph Lagu, objected to it and demanded Upper Nile instead.

Another group of SSOA led by Dr Akol agreed to the Jonglei offer and went ahead to nominate the Secretary-General of the National Democratic Movement, NDM, as a candidate for governor.

“We are dealing with a group of people in SSOA who are not independent in their thinking, a group of people who have abandoned the charter that brought us [SSOA] together and a group that has chosen to work underground,” he asserted.

Dr. Lam, who is the leader of the NDM, insists that his party is not represented in the current transitional government, and therefore deserves the gubernatorial seat in Jonglei state.

“This lack of transparency is the one which is again being reflected now on the issue of the governor. That is a violation because if a party had nominated properly, then they should be announced,” he added.

President Salva Kiir has instructed the Secretaries-General of Jonglei and Upper Nile to continue running the two states, until such a time when governors are appointed.

It is not clear when and how that decision will be reached.

But the peace agreement requires SSOA to nominate candidates for any post as a coalition.