The 488 million pounds evidence of corruption in the presidency
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By Nyol Gaar Nguen
July 19, 2013 - To fight and slightly curb any rampant corruption
anywhere in the world required due diligent, political shrewdness and
meticulous aggressive policies. As such, an enforcing agent must as
well be corruption free in order to ensure that thieves of all breeds
face full force of the law accordingly. As oppose to, half-baked
political perfectionism is in itself an advancement and endorsement of
corruption.
South Sudan is no exception in this voyage but part of the whole.
However, the reverse is true in my home country, South Sudan. Outright
thieves and looting of public funds in a broad day light by the
enforcer or man in charge always reigns.
For instance, H. E. President Kiir tells the people of South Sudan and
the world in the day that his government do not condones and will not
tolerates abject corruption while in the cove of the dark, he and his
cronies perfected the reverse and therefore blame weak institutions in
the country as a pretext to advance false consciousness. The truth is,
strong institutions are made by a strong leader in charge, while the
weak ones are feeble because the man in charge is weak and corrupted.
This is naturally how it works and why South Sudan is corrupted and
failing.
As usual, I am here to help provide my readers with fresh insight
information regarding abject corruption and event of misappropriation
of public funds eating South Sudan under the stewardship of President
Kiir Mayardit. The commentary will provide evidence of corruption in
the presidency and it will also share grounded perspectives on the
unconstitutional removal of Unity State governor, Taban Deng on July
7th, 2013 through a presidential decree.
First and foremost, I would like to remind my new readers that this is
not the first time I have written a commentary about rampant
corruption in South Sudan. Indeed, I have done so and pertinent points
below are evidences of corruption I have written an article about in
the recent past:
1. The $ 3.million dollars (allegedly) caught red-handed from Mr.
Stephen Madut Baak at the Heathrow International Airport in London in
2008, where Mr. Baak was unhesitant to mention that he was working for
president as an adviser;
2. The $ 4 billion reported missing by none other than President Kiir
himself in 2012 and the $ 600 million reported allegedly stolen by the
former RSS minister of finance, Arthur Akuien Chol in 2008;
3. The $ 20 million stolen (allegedly) by Stephen Baak Wuol and $ 293
millions reported by Aaron Young stolen (allegedly) by none other than
Salva Mathok Gengdit, the current deputy minister of interior in RSS;
4. And the $ 6 million dollars and South Sudan pounds reported stolen
from the president’s office 2013;
The lamp sum of money unaccounted for in South Sudan and mentioned in
my previous commentary is $ 4 billion and $ 922 million dollars. In
the recent past however, you might recall, President Kiir has
suspended two prominent South Sudanese federal government’s ministers
on corruption charges, namely Deng Alor Kuol, minister of cabinet
affairs and Kosti Manibe, minister of finance and economic planning.
Both men were accused of signing off $ 8 million dollars contract to a
private business associate without Mr. President’s knowledge and
approval, which recent evidence of paper trials about the contract
suggested something cynical and untrue. For example, prominent figure
in the ruling party SPLM and paper trials seen by this writer and
published by the South Sudan News Agency presented a gruesome
departure and hopeless twist of reality.
On July 7th, 2013 for instance, Mr. Pagan Amum accused the president
of leaving the “real culprits” untouched. Mr. Amum blamed and
criticised Mr. President for the suspension of the two ministers and
he also asserted that such act was politically motivated.
Mr. Amum further explained that the accused Federal ministers were not
in any way signatories of the alleged contract which the evidence seen
by this author partially contradicts. As such, there is no rebuttal
from the president’s circle, and therefore such deafening silence
speaks to something more cynical which people of South Sudan ought to
know.
Besides, the newest corruption scheme in the presidency I would like
to bring into my readers’ attention is the $ 488 million pounds
demanded by President Kiir himself on September 5th, 2011. President
Kiir ordered $488 pounds to be awarded to ABMC Company without the
Council of Ministers’ approval. In a nutshell, ABMC Company is a
private construction enterprise owned by Benjamin Bol Mel and Mr.
President is allegedly a close business associate of the company.
Well-placed sources in the presidency and ministry of Road and Bridges
revealed that President Kiir personally ordered Minister of Roads and
Bridges, Gier Chuang Aluong to release $ 488 million South Sudanese
Pounds (244 million dollars) to ABMC Company with immediate effect in
2011.
The ABMC Company in this scam was supposed to construct 69 kilometres
road under such dubious contract but there is so far little evident
proving work done. Because of this suspicious act from the high office
of the land, people of South Sudan would like to know why Mr.
President ordered the payment of $ 488 million South Sudanese pounds
to his business partner without following a proper channel and why he
got away with it?
Indeed, this is one of many and one of the slightest chucks of rampant
corruptions crippling South Sudan under Kiir’s leadership. Conversely,
this is the second times where the presidency has been implicated into
a corruption scheme in Kiir’s tenure. The first evident of such sheer
corruption was when $ 6 million was reported stolen in the president’s
office.
To give my readers a slightest glimpse of how much money South Sudan
has spent on none existing roads construction from 2006 to 2012, the
new country has spent $1.7 billion dollars on roads and yet only 75
kilometres road has been constructed and paved.
In comparison, the USAID funded 192 kilometers road construction in
South Sudan and it was built and paved for $ 229 million dollars only.
As evidence suggested, the disparity gap in this regard is real and
undeniable, but the gruff manner ensued by the person in charge in our
country is categorically appalling. For instance, on April 12th, 2013,
President Kiir fired South Sudan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
and International cooperation, Dr. Elias Wako Nyamellel for
acknowledging that South Sudan is corrupted and “rotten to the core.”
This is not acceptable move because such act by the president
endorsees mode of corruption.
Hence, because no one in the government has talked about the alleged $
488 million pounds awarded to ABMC Company by the president, it
showcased that our country is being held hostage by the person in
charge and so therefore our country will not move forward. Thus, I
questioned our collective allegiance to the nation of which our people
have collectively bled and died for. As we helplessly standby, watch
and allowed few crooks to milk our country to its death bed is not
going to do us good but detrimental and it is our collective
inability.
Similarly, it portrayed that we are too afraid, too ill informed and
too irrational to the core. So much so, our parliament in Juba is also
a rubber stamp. The Members of parliament (MP) are too incompetence in
discharging their rightful duties to further our nation meaningful
progress but in reverse, they became Mr. President’s punching bags and
puppets.
Out of their inabilities and fears, they allowed President Kiir to be
the supreme law of the land. No more, no less. As a result, he
unlawfully fire public servants, elected governors and allegedly
awarded contracts to his business associates as he pleases and at
ease. Unfortunately, these are the gruesome realities of a one man
rule.
This brings me to the unconstitutional removal of Unity State
governor, Taban Deng Gai. On July 7th, 2013, H. E. President Kiir
Mayardit issued a presidential decree relieving an elected governor of
Unity State. Because President Kiir is above the law and does what he
pleases, he did not consult with anyone in Unity State, including his
Vice President, Dr. Riek. Subsequently, this has generated a lot of
political rhetoric at the SPLM’s top leadership.
Similarly, people of Unity State including its parliament questioned
Mr. Taban Deng removal from the governorship. They therefore
classified such act as unjustified and also a clear violation of South
Sudan Transitional Constitution of which Mr. President has quoted
wrongly in this process. Under no circumstance, it is clear that Mr.
Deng’s removal from governorship is politically motivated. As usual,
President Kiir was ill-advice, ill-informed and as a result he acted
emotionally.
For one, Unity State is one of the peaceful States in South Sudan.
Since 2011, there has never been major internal unrest in the State
which might have led to Mr. Deng’s removal. Among the South Sudan
States for example, Jonglei is one of the worse provinces regarding
internal unrest. Thousands of people died in Jonglei almost daily due
to cattle rustling and ethnic conflicts. Unfortunately, Mr. President
did not remove its governor, Kuol Manyang Juuk because Mr. Kuol is
considered by the president as a staunch ally and supporter tribally.
Second, the people of Unity State time and time again have in the past
calls on President Kiir to remove Governor Taban Deng from
Governorship before Sudan’s 2010 elections, but all complains fall
into the deaf ear. To be precise, one President Kiir’s close associate
is on records telling the world that Governor Deng will not be removed
from governorship so long Kiir is still in power. This is ugly it has
got to in the president’s circle, when the people of Unity State
complained bitterly about Mr. Deng’s misrule in the past.
Following 2010 elections however, the people of Unity State swallowed
this bitter pill when Governor Taban Deng was declared a winner. In
unison, the people of Unity State threw their unwavering supports to
their governor without any reservation because justice has prevailed
and democracy has spoken, even though there were reported of riggings
across South Sudan.
Now, it is irrational that President Kiir has violated this covenant
at ease and still believes that the people of South Sudan and those of
Unity State can still observe and respect his corrupted and distorted
leadership. Unfortunately, I would say this is not how it works Mr.
President.
In conclusion, I must assert that President Kiir has committed a
serious political blunder which might cause him his presidency in the
coming years, if and only if he continued to resists good intended
counsels.
The truth is however, it’s still not too late for the president to
reconsider his actions. First and foremost, he should immediately
allow democratic process to take its course by reversing his decision
on Mr. Deng’s removal from the governorship. Second, he must allow an
open investigation on $ 488 million South Sudanese Pounds alleged he
authorized to his business associate, ABMC Company.
Nguen is a South Sudanese living in Canada. He can be reached at
[email protected].
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