The South Sudan President; Salva Kiir Mayardit, on Friday evening issued a republican decree relieving Doctor Albino Bol Dhieu from the position of Minister of Youth and Sport.
In the decree read on the state-run broadcaster; South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) last evening, the President relieved Dhieu and appointed Doctor Joseph Geng Akech as the new Minister of Youth and Sport.
Doctor Joseph Geng Akech, the newly appointee holds a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Doctor Akech has worked with international organizations in South Sudan and other countries across the continent including Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Somalia.
The former Minister of Youth and Sports; Doctor Albino Bol Dhieu when contacted on his dismissal, told City Review Daily Newspaper that he welcomed the decision by the President to relieve him and called on South Sudan youth to rally behind the new minister.
“I call upon all the youth to rally behind your leadership and support our newly appointed Minister of Youth and Sports, Comrade Doctor Joseph Geng Akech, and work together for the peace and betterment of our beloved country, South Sudan,” he said.
The reason for the dismissal of Doctor Albino remains unclear but what was known is that, in May 2022, a dispute aroused between the former Minister Doctor Albino Bol Dhieu and the Chairperson of the South Sudan National Youth Union over what the former Minister described as “Breaching of Protocol and Overstepping of Jurisdiction.”
According to Doctor Dhieu, the Chairperson of the South Sudan National Youth Union wrote a letter to the Egyptian President and the Deputy President of the Sudan Sovereign Council on the issue of Abyei without following the right procedure.
This made Doctor Bol, the then Minister of Youth and Sport suspended Gola for several months but later reinstated him back after Gola issued a public apology.
Doctor Albino Bol Dhieu was appointed in February 2020 when the President formed the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) as stipulated in the revitalized peace agreement in 2018.
Bol got the position under the ticket of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Government (SPLM-IG).