Why Gen Matur Chut political enemies are multiplying
4 min readBy Mapuor Malual Manguen
Just one and half years ago since he was appointed as Caretaker Governor of Lakes state, Maj. Gen. Matur Chut Dhuol has made more enemies than friends among state politicians and population. I shall take sneak peek as to why there is seemingly no love lost between the veteran army general or maverick politician if you like, and his yesterday’s staunch backers.
When Gen. Dhuol occupied the top hot political seat of Lakes state through Presidential Decree, it caught many with surprise but, it was widely welcomed with high expectations. Without squandering time, he immediately ventured into what I may call “dangerous political gamble” which his predecessors had knowingly avoided or never dire to contemplate.
In his first few months in office, he began to assert repossession of all public lands that were grabbed or dubiously owned by some powerful politicians and senior army officers from the state. They were using these lands as private property for residence or business entity. General Dhuol identified and confiscated all these property and re-asserted full government ownership over them. At the moment, one of these centers has been renovated and become official resident of Deputy Government.
The ownerships of Panda Hotel, APEX, APARD, Kony-Rot among others were affected by this policy. He also evicted people who were illegally living in dozens of public plots and declared government reclamation over them. This sowed first seeds of elitist group of anti-Dhuol establishment among state politicians. Meanwhile, the public welcomed his fearless character. And the SPLA General briefly became the Robert Mugabe of Rumbek.
As this policy became a talking point at every cafe in State, he quickly turned his attention on alcohol; ordering the ban of making or sales of all types of alcohol in Lakes state. With exception of a few big hotels, the General sent out his blue eyed boys to search, confiscate and destroy any alcohol they could find and arrest those who did not heed to his orders. His argument was that alcohol is a major trigger of criminal activities that could evolve to intersectional conflicts in state. Until then, state revelers switched side to anti-Dhuol establishment.
Having spent most of his time in military career, Gen. Dhuol buffoonery personality would score him very low points when it comes to language of modern day politics. Since he’s a man who can not mince his words when giving directives to his subordinates, critics took this part of his character as advantage to concoct some abusive, immoral, and vulgar statements allegedly said by Gen. Matur. And the numbers of his critics keep multiplying while his public popularity waned.
As time ticks to the next general elections in the country, Gen. Dhuol in my view appears to be an obstacle and a big threat to some seasonal politicians who might wish to vie for certain seats come elections time. The militant and iron fist policy of the military Governor signals non conducive environment to easy march back to political system of those politicians. They have to fight for his removal before it is too late.
Recently, the General has become a talking point in Rumbek and Juba because many state politicians conspired to oust him from power by instigating a motion in the National Assembly asking the president to remove him under article 101 of National Transitional Constitution of South Sudan just like how his predecessor, Eng. Chol Tong Mayay was relieved.
Others have gone more vulgar on social media by calling for his removal because he is “illiterate”? What is the rationality of this argument? Given the fact that all predecessors of Matur Chut are educated, did this attribute help in ending madness of Rumbek people?
If otherwise, the argument of education in this case is baseless because it cannot address root causes and solutions of intersectional deaths in Lakes state. Yes, leaders like state Governor should have acquired formal education, but does this question address current problems of Rumbek?
I beg not to be accused of conflict of interest here since I have blood relation with Gen. Matur Chut. It is just a coincident and I am quite frank in this article. Our politicians and critics of Matur Chut have not been objective enough to answer question of “why every Governor has failed to address clan and communal killings” in Lakes state.
Yes, the President can invoke article 101 as recommended on August 25 by National Assembly to sack Gen. Dhuol, but the question is, has he succeeded before in this approach when he sacked and appointed…in the past? If otherwise, it is not necessary, if not a waste of time to keep using the same unworkable method.
The author is journalist, blogger, social and political commentator based in Juba. He can be reached at mapuormalual@yahoo.com
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