The burden of having Matur Chut as the governor of Lakes state
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By Adhil Malok, Jnr
Mr Matur Chut was appointed as a care-taker governor of Lakes state
after communal clashes that left scores of people dead in Rumbek
Central County of Lakes state. This situation was exploited by the
enemies of elected governor, Mr Chol Tong to remove him from office.
Communal clashes are happening almost in every state. Jonglei has
worst records but no governor has been removed accept the one of Lakes
state. This raises a lot of questions.
Anyway, that is not the theme of this article. The theme is the burden
of having Matur Chut as the Governor. This burden can be expressed in
terms of economic (money) cost, social cost and political cost, etc.
Mr Matur has not gone through the normal formal education during his
childhood. Because of his physique (not intellect) he was chosen to
join the old Sudan’s Armed Forces Sports Unit as discuss (Julla)
thrower. He then joined Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA) with a
rank of corporal. Being a guerrilla army, the SPLA promoted him to the
rank of lieutenant. Then he progressed until he was recently retired
from active service with a rank of a Major General.
To accommodate him after his retirement, the President appointed him
as a care-taker Governor of Lakes state. Putting into consideration
the simple background stated above, his appointment was going to cost
Lakes state’s people a lot. It will also cost the President and the
ruling party-SPLM.
As stated earlier, the cost can be divided into:
A. Economic cost:
i. The man has never gone to school to train his intellect. Plato, an
ancient Greek philosopher, held that a realm of eternally existing
“ideas” or “forms” underlies the physical world. In Plato philosophy,
the human soul has three parts: intellect (reason), spirit (passion),
and appetite (basic animal desires). He believed that these faculties
interact to determine human behaviour. Plato urged that the intellect,
the highest faculty, be trained to control the other two. This has not
happened in the case of Mr Matur. It has a cost in terms of greed,
which is currently evident in terms of how state revenue is being
collected and used. It is the governor and his deputy, Mabor Achol who
knows where the revenue goes.
ii. The man does not understand English, which is the official
language of the government. As such, a team of bilingual or trilingual
experts have been employed to translate all government documents
(including constitutions) and correspondences into Dinka or Simple
Arabic. This, of course, is being done at an extra cost because other
Governors and/or government officials do not need such translations
into mother tongues or simple Arabic.
iii. Being a military commander, he came with 60 or so body guards who
are being paid by the state government. This is not normally the case
with the governors of other states or those who preceded him. A
governor is normally guarded by 2-4 policemen. This is also being done
at extra cost.
iv. Being security-minded because of insecurity he creates though
heavy-handedness, he uses many vehicles to carry his security details
and sycophants when he goes around the state visiting. Likewise, this
claims unnecessary expenditure.
v. Being uncouth the way he is, the man is a polygamous of high order.
He is reported be having 12 wives of his own and has inherited some
more from his dead father (who was a tribal chief) and dead brothers.
No salary of any magnitude can cater for needs of this huge number of
extended family. He must therefore take from here and there to make
the ends meet, which is done at the expense of people of Lakes state’s
funds for service and development.
vi. Most of his kids and fostered kids are studying in neighbouring
countries; the many wives are also residing in the cities of the
neighbouring countries. The renting of many residences abroad and the
payment of school fees in hard currency for scores of children is a
big burden on the revenue of Lakes state.
vii. Banning on the sale of alcohol which was recently dramatically
executed in Lakes is going to cost the people and government of Lakes
state in terms of taxes and jobs. It is also going to scare investors
from the state because the banning of alcohol was done in haphazard
manner that did not put into consideration the losses incurred by bar
and hotel owners.
B. Social Cost: socially, this man believes in obsolete ideas and
principles which cannot benefit the modern society. For example, he
mistakenly believes that politics is the domain of the old people.
That was why he relieved professional young people from the state
executive and replaced them with old people, some of whom have never
been to school. These Wazee, as they are called in Swahili, provide
him with out-dated ideas that suit his own level of thinking. This
sidelining of some members of community in active politics has
polarised the people of Lakes state into young generation and the old
generation, which is not healthy socially.
Second, the banning of alcohol has deprived people of Lakes the normal
life of relaxing and socialising in evening hours and during social
gatherings such as wedding and welcoming ceremonies. It has also
affected widows and poor families who make their income from brewing
of alcohol.
C. Political Cost: Presence of Matur as a governor has raised a lot of
legal questions, because it exists outside the constitution. Those
whom he unconstitutional removed have petitioned his decision in a law
court. The public is keenly following this case, which going to be a
test to the system of governance in the new Republic of South Sudan.
Handling of this case, is very crucial the leadership of the country
as well as the ruling party, SPLM.
At the end of this article, I would like to appeal to His Excellency,
the President of the Republic of South Sudan to resolve the anomaly of
having Matur Chut as the Governor of Lakes state, since he has now
become a big burden on the people of lakes state. We fought for
decades to establish a system of governance that respect our rights
without discrimination. What is happening in Lakes state is a
re-invention of the wheel of old Sudan. People of Lakes state should
be ruled by a leader (Governor) elected through democratic processes
like the other states. What did we do wrong to SPLM or the current
leadership of the country to be subjected to illegal rule of this
uncouth man?!
Adhil Malok, Jnr is opinion writer based in Rumbek, Lakes state. He
can be reach at Email: [email protected]
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