South Sudan anti-corruption investigation drive is on track but
By Isaiah Abraham
February 15, 2012 — There have been reports in the media about corruption allegations and counter allegations against senior South Sudan politicians. This came about when South Sudan Auditor’s General Report for 2005-2006 qualified (you know this audit term, yeah?) books of accounts for Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. The individual who were in charge of the queried institutions (the Bank and the Finance Ministry) have traded accusations one after another.
The House (South Sudan Legislative Assembly) had since called the then two financial principles- Mr. Elijah Malok Aleeng for the Central Bank and Mr. Arthur Akuien Chol for the Finance Ministry to explain to the public the whereabouts of millions of United States Dollars, the report purported to have been misappropriated during that audit period.
Mr. Malok quickly pushed the bug to Mr. Arthur Akuien, who had since lost his Treasury job in 2007. Few days ago after whispering here and there, the ex- Minister broke his silence by calling a press conference in Home and Away (Juba). He spilled the beans that he didn’t do anything wrong, but some groups did something. He has charged everyone, specifically key members of the SPLM party including someone ‘from above’ for the financial mess of the time.
According to the ex-Minister, the prime suspects are the former Governor of the Bank (Mr. Elijah), the Vice President of the Republic (Dr. Machar) and the SPLM Secretary General (Mr. Amum). All of them have denied the claims.
People went away shocked and in disbelief as to the so-called ‘revelations’. Funny enough some people have already passed judgment against the three. A few more are ahead baying for the blood of the quartet (recalled there is someone from above). They are challenging the government to arrest the suspects until the court settles the case.
Well, I for one don’t buy such propositions because I read too much hot air and nothing more. First of all, there is nothing like one person pocketing $30 million. To give one person huge sum of money even to wire it to his personal bank account is unheard of by any financial institution. Where on earth could such a thing happen before the watch of the sitting government? That allegation must be a cooked one, it has to be supported by substantive evidences to pin the truth home, otherwise we will hold our breath for more concrete facts behind the pronouncements.
Mr. Arthur could have been fairer to say he had sent the money to SPLM Bank Account than give a blanket charge against an individual. May be the money was for the party activities and this was missing in the Minister allegation. I saw him busy to nail Mr. Amum and that was too bad. I hear now that Mr. Amum has threatened to sue the ex-minister, and if that happened things would be nasty for all!
On allegations against the Vice President I still find it ridiculous at best to attempt to in dignify such a personality. True, the man isn’t an angel, but for him to engage in car deals is insulting. The reality is this: the ministry of Finance has some elements either within Procurement or around corridor of finance that used the big man name to advance such a scandal. But for the sake of the truth, nothing can twist the arms of the minister to go by any ‘order from above’, even if the story is true. The ex-minister should apologize to the big man!
Mr. Arthur should have known better than anyone else that to run away from responsibility isn’t the solution. He failed to admit that he had signed away too much money and he should have own that blunder outright. Whether that money ended up in the pockets of a few or not, the point is that the minister has failed the people of South Sudan. Who is Mr. Pagan for a tall minister to send money into his personal account? Let’s not be fooled to jump to sacrifice Dr. Machar or Mr. Amum; the truth lies somewhere not on what Hon. Akuien allegations.
I reckoned that it is healthier to put to notice anyone who is on the wrong side of the law, whoever he may be, but in this particular issue at hand, let’s not be carried away by Hon. Arthur reckless revelation. It is prudence again not to dump key liberation leaders under such cloudy allegations. Comrade Riek Machar or Ustaz Pagan Amum to my best judgment can’t associate with such public scams. Mr. Arthur isn’t talking, he could be under pressure from some spoilers to damage the reputation of people like Dr. Machar or Mr. Amum, a few hard working personalities under President Kiir.
But if it turns out that indeed there have been some elements of truth about such allegations against the four, our people are advice to leave these people alone to carry their own crosses. May be there is ‘fire’ in the ‘smoke’; they must clear their names before the law and the court of the public. This is a serious matter! Their image has been dented; they must do something to prove to the people that they aren’t corrupt.
I look forward for an end to corruption because it is evil, but if the matter becomes a pure lie, the SPLM must apply discipline to people that are engaging others in defamation. Excuse me, I still doubt whether the story is entire true. If Mr. Arthur want to be taken serious, he shouldn’t have come public instead he could have used his party channels to sort out what has been leveled against him. He’s an experienced civil servant and knows everything related to accountability and politics, such utterances are not good for a party that is still basking in laurels.
I hereby humbly request the public to go slow against our public figures. Besides, there is need to understand the period they were operating in. Remember the government of Southern Sudan was emerging from the ashes of war and ruins, nothing really could be a deal given the level of capacity for the people that formed the government. A financial mess yes could have been the case, but not to the extent of the said corrupt magnitude by two or three. I tend to be corrected anyway!
In everything we said earlier, nobody is encouraging impunity for theft or immunity for prosecution to anyone found guilty, but let’s be foot pussy on such matters as it is so humiliating and embarrassing to our government and the people of South Sudan.
The incentive though is that our leaders are becoming open about issues surrounding governance- what they didn’t right, it is proper hence to acknowledge the effort made by the National House and wish them success in their drive to stamp out corruption in our society once and for all. Our leaders shouldn’t fear anything if their consciences are clear. I take this opportunity to ask our beloved leaders adversely mentioned by Arthur to cool down their nerves and approach such situations on the perspective of maturity and levelheadedness. They have nothing to hide.
Isaiah Abraham lives in Juba; he’s on [email protected]