Gogrial state legislators condemn arrest of youth leader
March 11, 2016 (JUBA) – A group comprising legislators, politicians, opinion leaders as well as elders in the newly created Gogrial state, home to President Salva Kiir, have issued a strong worded statement condemning the arrest of a youth leader, describing the arrest as unacceptable and intolerable act.
Former state information minister, Ariech Mayar Ariech, told Sudan Tribune on Friday that he was surprised by the arrest of one of the youth leaders on directives from the state governor, Abraham Gum Makuac.
“I was surprised by the report that comrade Lual Aterdit was picked up by the car of governor from the ministry of education and arrested immediately. I still do not have clear information of the cause of the arrest. But what I have heard from the family and his colleagues as well as other relatives and friends is that he was arrested because he is influential youth leader and one of those who have been questioning the basis of selection of officials who were not recommended by either their own communities or SPLM (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement) for ministerial appointments by the governor,” Ariech explained.
“This has been interpreted to mean disrespect and equated to insults by the governor himself and his supporters and that was why they acted that way, which is unacceptable and cannot be entertained,” he added.
Lual Aterdit, according to Ariech, was an executive secretary in the office of former minister of education, Achol Chier Rehan, who was one of the officials who were left out of the new cabinet by governor Gum. This is despite president Kiir having allegedly indicated his preference for Achol and Ariech to remain in the cabinet since the officials did not spend longer time in office after they were appointed by the former caretaker governor, Akec Tong Aleu, before Warrap state was divided up into three new states.
Ariech, a close ally of General Gregory Basili, who is President Kiir’s brother-in-law, was a longtime critic of former governor, Nyandeng Malek. He and several other groups including youth leaders, fought against the poor performance of the previous government, leading to removal of governor Malek.
Malek was replaced with Akec Tong Aleu who later appointed Abraham Gum Makuac.
President Kiir in October 2015 issued a controversial establishment order, dividing up the country into 28 states and appointed Akec as the governor of Tonj state and promoted Gum to the position of governor of Gogrial state on the recommendation of Akec and his supporters.
Akec went to Tonj with some cabinet ministers he appointed while a governor of Warrap state. He later on appointed most of those with whom he seceded to form Tonj state but Gum appointed completely new faces, most of whom are people reportedly appointed outside the knowledge of their communities and party officials in the state.
Some of the new officials, according to the officials, are illiterate who do not know how to read and write, specifically the minister of information and speaker of parliament. Their appointments generated a row among intellectuals, some of whom questioned the motives of their appointments.
A critical leader told Sudan Tribune on Friday that they would not let the governor to play with the affairs of the area because it would discourage some youth going ahead with their studies if it takes no efforts to get a ministerial position without proper educational background out of sheer ignorance and loyalty mired with corruption.
“It is no secret that bad leadership at the top has long been a brake on the economic, political, and social development. And we will not allow that. If we leave this man out of the fear that we will be arrested, then our state will never see a step forward,” he said.
The youth who preferred to remain anonymous claimed he saw a huge man lifting up the arrested youth by the collar, slapped him hard across the face and sent him sprawling to the floor before they could push him into the cell run by the criminal investigation department (CID) in Kuacjok town, capital of Gogrial state.
He said his colleague has been arrested because he has been overheard repeatedly accusing governor in various forums and social gathering places as being undemocratic, dishonest, uneducated and corrupt.
“Our people and particularly our leaders of today don’t like to hear the truth. They should be careful if they don’t want people to talk about what they do. And instead of misbehaving and using state resources to intimidate people, they better work hard to change the impression about the negative things which they do in the society,” he added.
He accused them of wanting to turn the newly created Gogrial state into a “police state” even before spending less than six months in office.
(ST)