South Sudan’s Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior did not depart for Kenya on Monday afternoon after failing to obtain the necessary presidential authorisation, according to her office.

The statement dismissed claims that security officers had prevented her from leaving at Juba airport.

David Aleu Deng, acting executive director in the Office of the Vice President for the Gender and Youth Cluster, said that Nyandeng had planned to visit Kenya for official duties, among them a public lecture at Murang’a University of Technology.

The university has confirmed that Nyandeng is scheduled to deliver a public lecture there on 25 August, with its 10th graduation ceremony set for 28 August.

Deng explained that Nyandeng’s office had forwarded a travel request to the Office of the President on 13 August, yet the required clearance had not been issued by the time of her intended departure.

“As a senior government official, the Vice President cannot travel internationally without the necessary authorization and clearance from the Presidency,” Deng stated.

He added that Nyandeng therefore chose not to go to the airport.

“The reports circulating on social media claiming that the Vice President went to the airport and was blocked from travelling are therefore incorrect,” Deng said.

The Office of the President could not be reached for immediate comment.

Accounts that Nyandeng had been prevented from travelling surfaced three days after she publicly expressed concern about South Sudan’s political path and asked who was overseeing President Salva Kiir.

Addressing a requiem Mass for veteran politician Kosti Manibe Ngai at All Saints Cathedral in Juba on Friday, Nyandeng remarked that she could sometimes go as long as two years without seeing Kiir.

“When Dr. John Garang was there, those of Deng Alor, Elijah Malok, those of Kosti Manibe, all those people were there, watching,” she said.

“Who’s watching over President Salva Kiir now?”

Nyandeng, widow of the late Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) leader Dr. John Garang, also observed that South Sudanese had eroded some of the achievements secured by those who struggled for independence.

“We have inflicted to ourselves things that our enemies did not do to us,” she said.

She further encouraged young South Sudanese to challenge wrongdoing, noting that fear was stopping them from protecting their interests.

The Office of the President issued a response on Sunday that defended Kiir’s contribution to the liberation struggle and described the effort as a shared endeavour.

Although the statement did not mention Nyandeng by name, it described Kiir as “a senior member of that struggle and a longstanding comrade” of Garang.

The open difference of opinion between Nyandeng and the presidency is uncommon, given her position as a senior figure in Kiir’s administration.

She was named vice president in 2020 under the terms of the 2018 peace agreement intended to conclude South Sudan’s civil war.