The SPLM-IO has questioned Kiir about the delay in appointing a deputy interior minister.

‘The SPLM-IO has placed the responsibility for the delay in the appointment of the National Deputy Minister of Interior squarely on President Salva Kiir’s shoulders.

The major opposition peace party said in February that it has submitted the name of their candidate to the President.

The post has been empty since Mabior Garang — an SPLM-IO appointee–declined it in February last year.

Dr. Riek Machar questioned why the President has not supported their candidate during a meeting of the SPLM-IO Political Bureau on Wednesday in Juba.

According to reports, the SPLM-IO proposed Nyanagwek Kuol Mareng for the position of Deputy Minister of the Interior.

Ateny Wek, the Press Secretary in the President’s Office, said that he was unaware if the SPLM-IO candidate had been rejected or not.

“It was a meeting between the First Vice President and the President; they did not inform anybody whether there would be a rejection or not, and therefore I cannot speak about something I have not been informed about,” Ateny Wek told explained in a Eye Radio report seen by NCMP.

“They were just two and made no statement,” he continued.

The Minister of the Interior is Paul Mayom Akech, an SPLM appointment, while the Inspector-General of Police is General Majak Akec Malok, another SPLM appointee.