How Majur survived MoH drama
The Undersecretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Victoria Anib Majur, has now formally resumed her duty, after spending months on the sidelines due to disagreement over the restructuring of Juba Teaching Hospital.
According to the Ministerial Order No: 003/2022, issued by the Minister of Health, Elizabeth Acuei Yol, the suspension of her undersecretary, Dr Victoria Anib Majur, has been lifted with effect from January 13, 2022.
The conflict
Majur resumption to the office puts an end to the played-down but ugly stalemate that dragged the operations at the ministry. The City Review traces the genesis of the drama that brewed a cold war in the corridors of the country’s health sector.
It all started last year when Acuei disagreed with the Vice President for Service Cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol, on proposed managerial changes at the hospital, rendering the positions of the director-general and the deputy vacant in October 2021.
The dispute ensued when Abdelbagi ordered the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr Victoria Anib Majur, to commission the review and restructuring of the management of the country’s main referral hospital.
Dr Majur would then issue an order and reassign Dr Alier Nyok as the Director-General for Medical Services, Dr Thuou Loi as the Director-General for Training and Professional Development, and Dr Michael Samuel Mading as the Director-General for Policy and Planning.
She also named Janet Michael as the Director-General for Reproductive Health, Dr Frederick Khamis Tawad as the Director-General for Juba Teaching Hospital, Dr Garang Dakjur as the Deputy Director-General for Juba Teaching, and Dr Brian Madison as the Director for Training and Professional Development.
Abdelbagi had stated in his directive that the changes were aimed at addressing what he termed as a ‘mess” within the hospital. But Acuei did not stomach that. She issued a counter ministerial order, cancelling the restructuring days later without replacement to date.
Though President Salva Kiir tried to end the impasse in November 2021, directing First Vice President Dr Riek Machar to resolve the matter, the dispute has persisted to date due to what some analysts viewed as a conflict of interest in who controls what and how.
But according to Ms Acuei, her powers had been undermined by her junior when she ordered restructuring in the administration of Juba Teaching Hospital without her knowledge. She subsequently cancelled Dr Majur’s changes and formed a disciplinary committee to investigate and report to her within 90 days as per the civil servant. She then tasked the acting undersecretary, Dr Samson Paul Baba, whom she appointed to implement the order.
But Dr Majur, who was directed by Vice President for Service Cluster, Hussein Abdelbagi, defended her move, saying the restructuring decision was to rescue the deplorable situation the country’s only main referral hospital was going through.
“Some people think that I am undermining the minister, but the minister was not in the country. Normally I cannot do anything without consulting her, but as she was not around we were responding to a very serious crisis at the hospital as doctors were on strike and people were dying in the hospital,”
“We cannot wait for the crisis for someone to come back from the US. How is that the reason [Ms Achuei] decided to suspend me?” Majur said.
“Failure to address this administrative vacuum will automatically downgrade Juba Teaching Hospital from the level of a tertiary hospital to primary healthcare due to the manner in which the hospital is currently managed,” the statement warned.
Other attempts
Besides the suspension, the minister wrote to the Central Bank to amend the signature of Dr Majur as a signatory to the ministry of health account in an apparent fear as Dr Majur was reported to have been continuing to represent the ministry of health at functions.
She directed Dr Baba to take over the mantle of the undersecretary docket forthwith, as she ordered a three-month investigation into the controversial appointments that generated heat between her office and that of the vice president, Hussein Abdelbagi.
Days later, the Bank of South Sudan turned down the request from the acting undersecretary, Dr Baba, when he requested to be added as a signatory to the ministry’s bank account.
But in a letter dated October 27, 2021, the First Deputy Governor for Policy and Banking of Bank of South Sudan, Johnny Ohisa Damlan redirected the acting undersecretary to channel his request to the ministry of finance and planning which had the mandate to put changes in place.
