FACT-CHECK: President Salva Kiir hasn’t dismissed his five vice presidents

Written by Rufina Isaac

A claim (archived) making rounds on Facebook that South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has dismissed his five vice presidents and dissolved parliament is false.

“President Kiir Mayardit dismissed five vice presidents and dissolved parliament as South Sudan’s precarious peace broke down,” partly reads the post published by Facebook user Emmanuel Malual on 20 January 2026.

The Facebook account has over 25,000 followers, and the post gained over 1,600 reactions, 256 comments and was shared with 39 others at the time of publication.

Debunking the Claim:

A Google keyword search for the words ‘President Kiir Mayardit dismissed five vice presidents and dissolved parliament’ didn’t return any positive results; in addition, there is no credible mainstream media that reported about the news.

There have been dismissals of individual vice presidents, through official decrees, and reshuffles of government officials, but not the sweeping dismissal of all five in one decree as claimed.

While only the first vice president who is currently on trial remains suspended, the other four vice presidents: Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior, James Wani Igga, Taban Deng Gai and Josephine Lagu Yanga continue to serve in their respective positions. They were present at a cabinet meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Friday, 30 January 2026 according to the Office of the President (archived).

South Sudan’s lawmakers resumed sessions on 5 January 2026 following a directive by the president, however, eleven opposition MPs were dismissed according to a report by Radio Tamazuj and the parliament was not dissolved as claimed.

According to the Revitalised Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), South Sudan is not at war (archived), but there is a political crisis and weakening peace. The body says (archived) that the revitalised peace agreement is at risk of collapse due to worsening political and security tensions.

Our Verdict:

The ClarityDesk finds the claim that President Kiir Mayardit has dismissed his five vice presidents and dissolved parliament to be false.

This article is published by The ClarityDesk, with the support of the Election Civic Tech Fund of AfricTivistes, within the AHEAD Africa and Digitalise Youth projects, led by the Digital Democracy Initiative.

Have you spotted an error in this article and would like to request a correction, or have you come across a claim that we should investigate? Please send us an email via editor@claritydesk.org or click here to WhatsApp us via +211 928 606 958.

About The ClarityDesk

The ClarityDesk is a media integrity project based in South Sudan dedicated to promoting truth, transparency, and accountability. Working at the intersection of fact-checking, solutions and data journalism, we verify claims, debunk misinformation, and equip the public with tools to critically evaluate information. Our work is guided by accuracy, independence, and the public interest.

FACT-CHECK: President Salva Kiir hasn’t dismissed his five vice presidents was originally published in The ClarityDesk on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.