Joseph Bakosoro, incumbent national minister of Public Service, rejoin the mother SPLM on Thursday, July 15, 2021 | Credit | Emmanuel Akile/Eye Radio

Joseph Bangasi Bakasoro has said he will not step down as minister of public service despite holding the post under the South Sudan Opposition Alliance or SSOA.

Bakasoro who left SPLM 10 years ago rejoined the party Thursday.

In 2010, he contested for the general elections as an independent candidate for the seat of governorship in Western Equatoria state.

This is after he failed to secure the nomination of the then ruling party.

He later won the election against the current Acting Secretary-General of the SPLM, Jemma Nunu Kumba.

But in 2015, President Salva Kiir dismissed him from the governorship position.

On December 22, 2015, Bakosoro was arrested and detained by the National Security Service after being summoned to Juba.

He was released on April 27, 2016, without formal charges or trial.

Bakosoro then formed the South Sudan National Movement for Change and joined the revitalized peace process in 2018 under the SSOA coalition.

He was among SSOA leaders appointed into the unity government in 2020.

When asked whether he will resign from the position of the national Minister of Public Service, now that he has joined the SPLM,

Bakosoro said: – “Of course, I’m not losing [my ministerial position] because that is my own property.”

“The property which was given to us as NMC, we can sell it, we can own it and we can move with it as long as the peace implementation is moving forward.”

“The shares had been distributed to each individual and each individual has the right either to sell his share or to own his share or to abandon his share, so the share is working.”

“SSOA is not an entity by itself, it is a consortium, so SSOA will continue to operate as an umbrella but each individual party within SSOA can make a decision of his/her own and then move the implementation forward.”

During his announcement of joining SPLM, Bakasoro said he joined the party without ill intention, but rather to contribute in healing the nation, peace, reconciliation and development.

He also called on other members who deserted the ruling party to rejoin for the sake of peace.

Since 2010, the SPLM has fragmented into several parties with the formation of the SPLM-DC, SPLM-IO, SPLM-Former Detainees, and Real-SPLM.

Some of its senior Liberation Council members have also established other parties headed by Paul Malong Awan, Thomas Cirilo, among others.