File photo: Nyenagwek Kuol Mareng, former minister of information in Warrap State - courtesy

A senior member of the SPLM-IO who has requested Dr. Machar to withdraw her nomination from the position of the deputy minister of interior said President Kiir doesn’t want to work with her.

In February, Dr. Machar nominated Nyenagwek Kuol Mareng for the post of deputy minister of interior after Mabior Garang resigned.

According to Nyenagwek since then, President Salva Kiir declined to appoint her.

The rejection has led to a heated debate in the opposition camp.

With other members in the opposition, arguing that, President Kiir has no power to reject opposition nominees to positions allotted to them by the revitalized peace agreement.

In a letter seen by Eye Radio, addressed to Dr. Riek Machar, Nyenagwek said she withdrew from the position, after President Kiir defiantly refused to appoint her.

According to Nyenagwek, this is not the first time President Kiir rejected her nomination.

She says in 2016 she was nominated by FDs in the National Legislative Assembly, but President Kiir declined to appoint her as Member of Parliament.

Nyenagwek says the President did not give reasons for his refusal to appoint her to several positions she was appointed in by her party.

She described the move as a violation to the 2018 peace accord and a delaying tactic in the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.

“I didn’t reject the nomination, but I requested withdrawal of my name from the position, this after Dr. Riek the first vice President of the Republic submitted my nomination in February 2021,” Nyenagwek told Eye Radio.

“If you count from February to now it is roughly 10 months without an appointment. It’s clear even in the media that the President rejected me for reasons he knows and I don’t know.

Nyenagwek says President Kiir doesn’t want to work with her.

“This is not the first time he [Kiir] refused, because in 2016, I was nominated by FDs when I was part of them before, after I became a member of IO officially, he [Kiir] also rejected my nomination in National Legislative Assembly,” she said.

“When he saw my name he said he was not ready to work with me.”