Ateny Wek Ateny-Presidential Press Secretary.

President Kiir has revoked a gubernatorial decree issued by the Upper Nile State

Governor to appoint a state minister of petroleum and mining.

The Press Secretary in the office of the President says the creation of the ministry of petroleum and mining at state level by Governor Simon Kun Pouch was unconstitutional.

Mr. Ateny Wek Teny told Eye Radio that oil is a national resource and it belongs to the entire nation.

That is why, he said, oil-producing states have no right to establish a ministry on their own.

He said President Salva Kiir has ordered Governor Pouch to revoke the appointment of the minister of oil in Upper Nile State.

“The decision was overdue from the start when the governor of Upper Nile State, Simon Kun Pouch, appointed someone to be a minister of petroleum at state level. The decision itself was unconstitutional because things like petroleum are not the property of the state, they are the property of the entire nation. Even if it is called an oil-producing state, it doesn’t mean that they own the oil so that they have a minister of that kind. So it was like he was projecting a situation whereby the people of Upper Nile and the people of Unity State will be looking at oil like their own and that was overdue and the President should have come in to cancel such an appointment. But the President last time asked Governor Simon Kun Pouch to revoke that appointment, but he did not do it until the start of the war and Upper Nile now is under a state of emergency so it is a prerogative of the President to come in and cancel whatever appointment that he sees to be unconstitutional,’’ he said.

Mr. Francis Ayul had been appointed minister of petroleum and mining in Upper Nile state.