President Salva Kiir shakes hands with NDM leader Dr Lam Akol|Photo by PPU

Veteran opposition leader Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin says he should not be blamed for governance failures in South Sudan, arguing that he has spent only seven months in government since 2005.

Dr. Lam, who leads the National Democratic Movement (NDM), said it would be unfair to hold him responsible for the country’s challenges when he has largely remained outside government structures for the past two decades.

He said his first appointment to government came in 2016 when he was named Minister of Agriculture under the power-sharing arrangement established by the 2015 peace agreement.

“In fact, this government has been in office since 2005. I talk of the government of Southern Sudan and then the successor, the government of the Republic of South Sudan. Literally speaking, I only served for seven months. Since 2005. The first two months was in 2016,” He said.

According to Dr. Lam, he resigned after only two months following the outbreak of fighting in Juba between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and then First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar.

He said the violence led to the collapse of the 2015 peace agreement, prompting him to leave the government.

“You remember when, the forces of the President and the first Vice President fought. And to me, the agreement collapsed, the agreement of 2015. So, I left and resigned from my position as Minister of Agriculture, which was given to me as a result of that agreement. The ministry was belonging to the national alliance to which I belonged. So that was my first time to be in the government in South Sudan,” Lam explained.

His second and most recent appointment came in May 2025 when he was named Minister of Transport under the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity through the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA).

Dr. Lam said he served in the position for five months before leaving office in October 2025.

He argued that even during that period, he had little opportunity to influence government decisions because the Council of Ministers was not meeting.

“The second time was in May last year to October last year, which was five months. And so, a total of seven months in government, at least in the two months I attended Council of Ministers meeting. But in the five months there were no Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers were not sitting for more than nine months. So, I went in and came out without attending a single Council Ministers meeting of the Council of Ministers” He argued.

Dr. Lam maintained that neither he nor the NDM should be held accountable for policy decisions and governance outcomes accumulated over more than two decades.

“So, it would be too much to think that for 21 years somebody who has been in office for seven months to bear responsibility for what happened, I can tell you very clearly that we don’t count ourselves to have been in government long enough to be able to influence the decisions that are being taken,”Ajawin stated.