N. Bahr el Ghazal governor denies plot to kill MPs
By Ngor Arol Garang
January 7, 2012 (JUBA) – The executive of South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State on Saturday denied reports that Governor Paul Malong Awan had issued warnings and threatened to kill some members of the State Assembly, allegedly for voting to impeach the finance minister over corruption allegations.
An aide to the governor told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that Governor Awan had no intention of killing members of parliament, though he admitted that there were differences over the 2011 budget. Some MPs claim that over $50 million has gone missing.
He said that the allegations are “just political propaganda” by politicians who support the governor or criticise him, depending on their own self interest.
“The people who are now complaining against him were the same people who were with him seeking his support during [the 2010] elections,” the aide added, describing Awan’s opponents as “confused opportunists” and “power hungry”.
The aide, who did not want to be named, was reacting to media reports quoting some state MPs accusing Governor Awan of threatening to kill all the parliamentarians who voted to remove finance minister over irregularities in the 2011 budget.
In November, 30 MPs out of 45 voted for the removal of finance minister Ronald Ruay Deng, over alleged graft. Eight stood against the motion while three abstained.
Garang Majak Bol, an MP representing Aweil South County, in series of interviews with Sudan Tribune accused of Governor Awan of wanting to assassinate him over the issue.
$57M MISSING
On 2 November 2011, Bol was the MP who raised and moved the motion to impeach the finance minister, which was seconded by two thirds of the state assembly.
Bol raised the motion because there were “huge irregularities” in the 2011 budget report. He also accused the minister of abuse of office, diversion of public funds into his private businesses, unlawful acquisition of wealth and failure to answer other questions about his performance in the state parliament.
After briefing the speaker of the Council of State – the upper house of the Juba-based South Sudan Legislative Assembly, Bol told the press that the finance minister had stolen millions of South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) in public funds. The diverted funds were meant to support delivery of basic services to the rural poor majority in the state.
The MP said that he had been arrested because he “questioned finance minister about how the 2011 budget was spent”.
“He has pocketed [a] huge amount of money provided in the budget to implement developmental projects such as construction and maintenance of roads, support agricultural projects to boost food production in the area, construct schools and public healthcare centers as well as drilling of 38 boreholes in the five counties of the state”, Bol said.
“Not a single coin” from the SSP153 million (USD$57 million) sent by the Juba government to support development projects in the state has been spent, he claims.
“This massive corruption generated a lot of commotions from the general public and indeed put an overwhelming pressure on the state assembly to intervene. So as [a] parliament, we moved in quickly to verify these claims because citizens in the state [are] suffering a lot. Food security is a big problem and many other services are not being provided despite the fact there was a budget to support implementations of plans to address these issues”, he explained.
Bol said political temperatures started to rise so high that the house immediately turned wild, especially after the governor intervened in favour of his minister of finance, asking the house to drop the case, else those behind the motion would risk their lives.
“Instead of seeking solution, the governor reacted negatively; issuing threats and warnings to members including myself, that he will do anything in his capacity if we cannot drop the case”.
He quoted Governor Awan during the caucus meeting with members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the assembly as saying:
“I can kill you in anyway. I have money and I can use intelligence and security agents to do anything to you”.
The MP says that because he refused to change his position the Governor decided to arrest him on 20 November 2011, despite lawmakers having impunity under the constitution.
Bol’s neighbour’s were also harassed, beaten and some were imprisoned for two days without charge, he claims.
He denounced the actions of the security services and the governor, saying that he was only doing his job as an MP by trying to hold the government to account.
The SPLM MPs who had voted against the motion had been bribed with cars and money, he alleged.
Bol said the North Bahr el Ghazal Assembly reached the decision to impeach the minister after the public accounts committee in the house conducted an assessment in October, visiting all spending agencies, as part of the monitoring plan to supervise the implementation of the budget.
The finance minister travelled abroad to avoid appearing before the state parliament, Bol claimed. On the third summons on 2 November, minster Deng arrived over three hours late and was not able to convince the house, despite five hours of debate, the MP said.
“His reports were not genuine. None of the documents including the annual budget report was signed and he failed to convince the house. This was why he was impeached by the majority”.
Reacting to his briefing, the speaker of council of states, Joseph Bol Chan, told journalists in his office on 2 January that it was the role of the assembly to monitor performance of the government. Although he admitted that he had only heard one side of the story.
However, the speaker of the national parliament decried the practice of corruption describing it as a “grave issue”. He said that he would form a committee to investigate the case.
“Of course this is one side of the complaint. We will have to get the other side of it to get a clear picture before legal procedures to settle the matter”, he told reporters.
John Luk Jok, minister of justice said he had received a report from the office of the vice president over the issue but said he was still studying it. Minister Jok said he would definitely form a “fact finding” committee to conduct what he described as “thorough” investigation to establish the truth.
MILITARY BORDER BUILD UP
An aide to the governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that he had been in Juba holding meetings with top officials.
“Some of the issues which the governor has been discussing with these officials are of course updates on security situation in the area, since our state is one of states in South Sudan bordering north Sudan.
“The Sudan Armed Forces have increased their strengths and we have reports from our intelligence indicating that Sudan Armed Forces in Southern Darfur and Kordofan are ever deploying and moving toward Republic of South Sudan in all areas along the borders”, he claimed.
(ST)