Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment: The most corrupt Government Institution in South Sudan

Following the unexpected and historic reshuffling, that saw many giants removed from the government, we would like to take this opportunity to thank President Salva Kiir Mayardit for bold decision that save the nation from wanton mismanagement of government coffers.

The President’s decision was indeed a response to both public outcry and the need to have a leaner government in order to save resources to better serve the people of South Sudan.

We are happy that ministries headed by corrupt individuals have been merged or integrated into other ministries. One may wonder which ministries were headed by corrupt individuals.

Therefore, it has always been a wild question to implore the most corrupt government institution in South Sudan. This is because every institution is allegedly corrupt but the level of graft varies in terms of magnitude and volume.

A lot of people will assume that it is the Ministry of Interior/police, Army or the Ministry of Finance. Undeniably, the above mentioned three institutions kind of fraud is smaller in scale compared to former national ministry of commerce, Industry and Investment under Mr. Garang Diing Akuong.

The information provided herein is a long term research conducted and funded by the National Advocacy Group based Juba, a Think-tank whose primary objective is to provide independent, balanced and fair
assessment on the activities of institutions of the government of the Republic of South Sudan.

In this case, the following is an abridged version of the findings for public consumption. More detailed report can be requested from the email provided below.

The institution heading the list in the graft world of our new country was the ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment with the Minister, Garang Diing Akuong and his right hand Under secretary of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Simon Nyang, topping the list.

It has to be recalled that the two gentlemen are both from Northern Bahr El Ghazal State and have a history in common.

Firstly, Mr. Simon Nyang was Garang Diing’s Director General of Finance when he (Garang Diing) was the minister of Finance in Northern Bahr el Gazal State. For readers’ information, Mr. Garang Diing Akuong
assumed the position of Minister of Finance after sudden passing of respected and honourable former State Minister of Finance, Mr. Ajou
Garang Deng.

From the insiders’ information obtained by these Investigative Freelance Journalists, the havoc and mismanagement activities carried out by these two gentlemen in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State is glaring.

It was a complete organised crime which they carried over to the Central government in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment.

It is also to be recalled that the two are in-laws since Hon. Garang Diing is married to Nyang’s close cousin who happens to come from the same county, payam and Boma in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State.

This is apart from so many things they have in common which can’t be covered at this point in time.

So, when Hon. Garang Diing was appointed at the helm of the National Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment two and half years ago, the first person he brought along was none other than Mr. Simon Nyang
Anei.

By then, a bright and efficient Under secretary of Commerce and Industry was Ms Elizabeth Alek Manaoh Majok. She is one of our few women who made impact and brought professionalism to the Ministry.

After few months of setting root, Hon. Garang Diing made a shocking reshuffle in the Ministry by switching Elizabeth with Mr. Simon. He transferred Elizabeth to non-influential section of Investment and
made his old crony Mr. Simon, the Under secretary of Commerce and Industry who surprisingly in a two months time, went back to his State where he bought more than 200 heads of cattle to stitch up his decades old unfinished marriage for his Eldoret – Kenya based wife whose family in Warrap State have been complaining of unsettled dowry.

This has left a lot of Ministry’s employees in baffle and flabbergasted because the plans of the two can only be left to the definition of the fate.

However, the above citation is just a tip of an iceberg. The most shocking and malicious corrupt practice that they were doing was the dubious dollar business in conjunction with the Qatar National Bank (QNB) in Juba.

This is another sleaze in waiting if investigated by Anti-corruption commission. It is so grand that the dura disaster allegedly engineered by the former minister of Finance Mr. Kuol Athian Mawien is nothing in comparison.

The government has lost millions of funds in form of foreign currency. It is so obvious that it has made some people overnight millionaires in south Sudan particularly Hon. Garang Diing Akuong, his closest associates, in-laws, friends and relatives.

Some people wonder how this information was acquired. It was a firsthand experience that the authors applied for dollar currency themselves. They finished all the processes.

They have also gotten inside information from the ministry and QNB not forgetting the innocent associates of the minister who happily brag of their overnight fortunes.

It is quite unfortunate that neither the Ministry, Bank (QNB) nor innocent beneficiaries understood the mission of the authors.

Having highlighted the above facts, we now authoritatively inform the general public and interested institutions dubious dollars were acquired in South Sudan at a cheaper rate through Hon. Garang Diing
Akuong and his associates.

As from insiders’ information, the public and interested institutions are hereby informed that the process of acquiring illegal overnight wealth included the following.

1. Look for a businessman (especially Ethiopians, Eritreans, Arabs or Lebanese) and request the Minister Garang Diing that you want to import say 2000 tonnes of sugar from Dubai.

2. Make a presentation of fake invoices quoting the price of the goods in Dubai

3. The Minister will pass it to his crony the Under secretary of Commerce and Industry Mr. Simon Nyang who would blindly approve say 500,000 USD to bring the goods from Dubai after confirming their
(Garang and Nyang) cut or commission.

4. That money is given to you at the rate of 3 SSP per dollar

5. The approval is then referred to Qatar National bank near Konyo konyo market (that’s where the bank headquarters is based) and buy the 500,000 USD with South Sudanese Pounds with the then above rate of Central Bank

6. Once you are given that amount, the purported importer will then ‘purchase’ the dollars from you say at an agreed rate of 4.2 SSP per dollar. Therefore, the profit margin per dollar is 1.2 SSP and this
will earn you a cool and sweatless 600,000 SSP as a net profit.

7. The net profit is shared among Hon. Garang Diing Akuong, Mr. Simon Nyang Anei and the agent. The former (Hon. Garang Diing takes the lion share because of the protocol)

The National Advocacy Group made this public in order to alert the President and Anti-corruption Commission because they might not have gotten the full report confidently sent them late last year. We urge relevant institutions including Presidency to take necessary measures to investigate this scandal.

In our next publication, we will provide other shocking details of equally corrupt ministry of Petroleum and Energy.