The son of SPLA founder, Dr. John Garang has said the struggling Transitional Government of National Unity has already been overthrown.
Mabior Garang de Mabior who is also the minister of Water and Irrigation in the unity government made statement on Monday evening in response to the overwhelming questions about the status of
administration in the South Sudan capital Juba.
The Transitional Government was put in place in May 2016 in cognizance with the peace treaty signed between the regime of President Salva Kiir and the SPLA in Opposition leadership under Dr. Riek Machar.
The ToGNU was designed to steer the oil rich volatile nation for three years and organize a national election before its expiry.
War however broke in the young nation just two months down the road and the future of the unity government is hard to predict now.
According to Mabior there is no more government of unity.
“For those asking me to resign to avoid being sacked, I can tell you the government has already been overthrown. There is no ToGNU,” Mabior said in a brief statement he released on social media.
The Garang’s son also described the replacement of Dr. Machar with the minister of Mining, Gen. Taban Gai as a “coup”.
Recently Gen. Taban was selected by three ministers in the Machar’s opposition movement to replace the latter that is in the hiding, as the First Vice President.
President Kiir consequently passed decree appointing Gen. Taban as his deputy.
There are now widespread fears that ministers from the SPLA-IO still supporting Machar are going to be sacked by the new “leader”.
Some of the Machar’s allies have been asked to resign before Gen. Taban acts on them.
Mabior is however with a different version of thought. “I will not dignify the Taban coup with a resignation. I t will not be an embarrassment to be sacked by an illegitimate government.”
On Monday the Agriculture minister, Dr. Lam Akol resigned and fled from Juba to Sudanese capital Khartoum.
Dr. Akol who is also the leader of opposition SPLM-DC party said the government of unity is no more and those who challenge the faction of Kiir can only do so from abroad.