SSOA Spokesperson Stephen Lual. (Courtesy).

The spokesperson of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) said the decision to change former Jonglei State governor, Denay Chagor, was taken after thorough consultation among the member parties.

Chagor was fired in a Republican decree on Wednesday and replaced with Majuob Biel Turuk, a member of the National Democratic Movement.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the former governor, also the Chairman of the South Sudan United Movement under the SSOA coalition, described the decision as unilateral and called for his reinstatement.

Denay raised concerns regarding his replacement from the position, which he claims was originally allocated to his SSUM docket, as stipulated in the 2018 peace agreement.

Chagor emphasized that under the Revitalized Peace Agreement, positions allocated to the SSOA were to be evenly distributed among its member parties.

He argued that any alterations to the power-sharing arrangement should be conducted through a consultative process involving all SSOA members and the Chairperson of SSOA, Josephine Lagu.

In response, SSOA Spokesperson Stephen Lual said the decision to dismiss Chagor was reached unanimously and in the spirit of the organization’s dialogue framework provided for in article 16.

“The decision to change the governor of Jonglei State was taken after deep consultation within the SSOA Alliance organization and was not taken unilaterally as the former governor claims,” Lual said.

“I want to emphasize that the decision to dismiss the governor of Jonglei State was made within the framework of dialogue within the SSOA organization, by Article 16, which indicates that decisions are taken within the Unified Alliance unanimously.”

“If this is not possible, any draft decision is agreed upon within the Unified Alliance organization.”

Lual argues that the decision is in line with the general guidelines and is not against the provisions of the statute of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance.