The break away group during their General Assembly meeting last Wednesday, the group elected Reverend James Kuong Ninrew [In red shirt] as the moderator, with John Yor Nyiker as vice moderator and Reverend John Maker Gordon as the secretary general - Courtesy

The leadership of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan in Nyakuron-West of Juba has fallen apart as a break away group elected a new moderator, a move described by the church as illegal.

This comes after the group elected a new leadership for the Anglican Presbyterian church in Juba last week.

The splinter group said they decided to elect a new moderator after more than a year of exhausted efforts to reconcile the church.

During a General Assembly last Wednesday, the group elected Reverend James Kuong Ninrew as the moderator, with John Yor Nyiker as vice moderator and Reverend John Maker Gordon as the secretary general.

The church fell apart after one group proposed that the election shall include the Sudanese wing of the church.

However, some church leaders were allegedly dissatisfied with the manner in which Reverend James Makuei was elected.

The church dispute reportedly ended in court after several efforts to reunite the church failed.

Rev. James Bol Obonyo, one of the seven church leaders who conducted Wednesday’s election says the assembly elected Reverend James Kuong Ninrew as the moderator, with John Yor Nyiker as vice moderator and Rev. John Maker Gordon as the secretary general.

“What happened is the continuation of the General Assembly of Presbyterian church of Sudan and South Sudan that has been interrupted in 2020 simply because of the question of whether Sudan should vote for the leadership of South Sudan or not,” Bol told Eye Radio on Thursday.

“The seven presbyteries out of the nine are here. They made a motion that they are going to elect the leadership of Presbyterian Church of South Sudan and this is exactly what happened just a few minutes ago.

“They have elected the leadership with the Moderator, the vice moderator and the general secretary for the church of South Sudan.”

In response to the development, Reverend James Makuei who is the church Moderator described the new general assembly process as illegal and null.

Rt. Makuei says he was elected by the General Assembly of Anglican Presbyterian Church of South Sudan in 2020 as leader of the church.

This, he says, was with the approval of church members in Sudan and South Sudan, and the office was officially handed over to him.

“After conducting the General Assembly, the whole thing went very smoothly and we celebrated even the reception for the new leadership and handing over was made including the vice moderator in this illegal election on Wednesday,” Moderator Makuei told Eye Radio.

“That General Assembly is illegal because these people didn’t concede the defeat and it was after a week when they wrote that they are grieved with the process of the general assembly.

“Anybody who is conducting or who has conducted a so-called general assembly is illegal.”

Rev. James Makuei said the splinter group had been suspended after violating South Sudan Presbyterian Church law.

Meanwhile, Rev. James Bol says that the administrative rift is not a power struggle.

He appealed for an immediate solution to bring the church together.

“Of course, we are not happy to have two administrations, but as the new leadership, we will work hard so that the two administrations can now think of how to bring this divided church together,”

“Is not a power struggle. The issue was the question of Sudan and logically, Sudan had already decided their fate. It was Sudan who came with a proposal in 2020 that we want to separate from South Sudan.”