Michael Makuei or Elia Lomuro: Who is the government’s spokesman?
3 min readBy Kon Joseph Leek, Juba, South Sudan
February 1, 2017 (SSB) — Is the TGoNU being controversial or something? Early this month (January 2017), the minister of information, broadcasting and postal services who doubles as the government’s spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth made the dispatch on the media that the regional protection force (RPF) mandate has expired in Dec/2016.
He advised that since the RPF is not exactly the same thing as UNMISS and UNMISS mandate has been extended for a year which is due to end late this year, Hon. Makuei said that the UNSC can however renew the RPFs’ mandate if there is a need to do so since no any institution can work on an expired agreement.
Hon. Makuei, according to him was putting light on wrongly received message of the Defense Minister Gen. Kuol Manyang who had earlier said as reported by the media that there was no need for the RPF in South Sudan as there was nothing they would come and do since the SPLA had put the situation under control – a statement which was criticized by the UNSC.
Previously in Dec/2016, the government blamed the UNSC for making approvals of what they could not implement; the government was referring to the UNSC approval of RPF and stayed mute and arms akimbo thereafter and started being too critical of the government’s conducts.
On the other hand, the UNSC and the entire UN under Former SG Ban Ki Moon became too equivocal against the government’s move on the RPFs’ issue
Conversely in January 24th 2017, Elia Lomuro dispatched another statement on Eye Radio’s sun down program that the government is respecting the UNSC resolution and that its position remains unchanged.
The “remain unchanged” Lomuro means here is that the government accepts the deployment of RPF unconditionally as opposed to Makuei’s point
The same government which Makuei had previously said was waiting for the UNSC to renew the RPFs’ mandate is the same government Lomuro said was now still respecting the UNSC resolution and that are waiting for the RPF!
On the same day Lomuro was on Eye radio, he also put it clearly that Makuei’s statement had some degree of truth to say that the RPF mandate was expired but said nothing about it whether the really expired mandate of the RPF needs renewal or not
Now, if there is a degree of truth in Makuei’s previous statement that RPFs’ mandate has indeed expired as also acknowledge by Lomuro then what exactly was Hon. Elia Lomuro insinuating by accepting Hon. Makuei’s statement as true (instead of cancelling it) and still kept pressing his point through?
Who do we believe here as the government spokesman between the two aforementioned ministers who seems to be all speaking for the government?
Which one do we accept as the official government’s stand here – the statement from the minister of information or cabinet affairs?
Reach the commentator on j.konleek@gmail.com
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