On January 8, 2026, the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Africano Monday, surprised the entire country with a directive restricting the announcement of presidential decrees on the SSBC television or radio.
According to the directive, any appointment made by the Office of the President, will no longer be announced publicly. The appointment letter will be delivered directly to the appointed official through the Protocol Office, while the replaced official will be privately informed.
I learned that; governors will receive copies from the Office of the President to distribute to the officials relieved of their duties in the states. Members of the national legislature will also be appointed or revoked without public announcement. Instead, the speakers of the respective houses shall serve them with the copies of their appointments or the revocations.
These directives will effectively allow the state to operate in the dark. However, the President should not revoke the appointment of an MP appointed publicly, in the dark. Majority of the citizens often tuned into SSBC TV or radio at 8pm from Monday to Friday, waiting for Mrs Rejoice Samson or Mama Decrees to appear on the screen to read the presidential decrees.
This tradition allowed the citizens to know who was appointed or relieved from his or her position. Senior civil servants, such as the undersecretaries and ambassadors may reasonably fall under such Presidential directive, but not MPs, governors, national ministers, and chief administrators.
Without Presidential decrees, SSBC will lose one of its most watched and anticipated programs. The greatest fear, however, is the potential for manipulation. Individuals with personal agendas may attempt to revoke senior officials’ appointments without the knowledge of the President.
There is no country in the region where senior government officials’ appointments are made in the dark. Kenya, for example, provides a clear contrast. President William Ruto personally announces appointments in the State House in Nairobi in the presence of the media, and the names are published on the official Kenya Gazette for public knowledge.
With these directives, some officials may even suffer a shock, high blood pressure or diabetes related complications upon being suddenly served with a private revocation letter.
Without public announcement, citizens will not know who was still active in Parliament or holding public office, for that matter. This lack of transparency will bring about confusion to our people. R-ARCSS clearly stipulates that state governors do not have the authority to appoint or sack officials unless the agreement that legitimized the R-TGONU has collapsed.
Therefore, the government officials should not be appointed or sacked in secrecy. If this practice continues, it will raise serious concerns about those who advised the President on it.
The writer, Dut Majokdit, is a Member of the SPLM-IO Political Bureau and former chairperson of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State. He can be reached via email: Majokdit2024@gmail.com
The views expressed in ‘opinion’ articles published by Radio Tamazuj are solely those of the writer. The veracity of any claims made is the responsibility of the author, not Radio Tamazuj.