Why Gen. Akot Deng Akot Is the New Caretaker Governor of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state
The Impeachment of Kuel Aguer and Why Gen. Akot Deng Took Charge of the State Affairs
By Garang Kuot, South Sudan
February 2, 2015 – On 26th January 2015, Northern Bahr El Ghazal State Legislative Assembly impeached Caretaker Governor, Kuel Aguer Kuel on various charges. The impeachment was successful with 34 members voting in favor of the motion to remove him while 8 others voted against the impeachment. The reaction to the Vote-of-no-Confidence was mixed which is normal in any democratic society. Citizens of Northern Bahr El Ghazal State have their constitutional right to react to political matters the way they see fit.
However, as a one-time insider in government business, my conclusion was that, most of the reactions were based on hearsays and emotions. Majority of our citizens didn’t base their arguments on real factors leading to the impeachment. But I am not trying to blame anyone here because there was no prior education provided to citizens on the genesis of Kuel’s political crisis in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State.
When I saw that the debate over the impeachment was no longer on the subject matter but was only creating unnecessary collision among friends and colleagues, I decided to stay aloof. The reason for this article is to dispel the notion being spread around by Kuel’s camp. I read a piece on Radiotamajuz.com and papers in Juba in which Gen. Akot Deng Akot is subtly accused by some quarters of being behind the impeachment of Caretaker Governor in NBGS.
First of all, Gen. Akot Deng Akot is a law-abiding citizen and one of our leading heroes who liberated this country. Since taking over the commissionership of police in NBGS, he has successfully maintained the internal security of NBGS to the satisfaction of not only the citizens of NBGS but also the government of South Sudan. To his credit, NBGS has continuously been rated as the only State in the Republic of South Sudan with the lowest rate of crime. Due to his success as a police commissioner in NBGS, he was transferred to Western Bahr El Ghazal State following the crisis that erupted in Wau and which resulted into serious insecurity over there. He was later transferred back to NBGS after successfully restoring security in Western Bahr El Ghazal State.
I decided to give this brief background on Gen Akot Deng in order to give his true image, which some people are trying to tarnish for mere political reasons.
Having given this background, let me go back to the notion/accusation that Gen. Akot ousted Kuel Aguer Kuel from office. This accusation is blatant lie and has no basis whatsoever. First and foremost, Gen. Akot is not a member of State Liberation Council, which stripped Kuel of his SPLM membership nor is he a Member of State Parliament that impeached and dismissed Kuel from his Gubernatorial position. His role is to provide security to all citizens of NBGS regardless of their political affiliations, nationality, race or religion.
For your information, Kuel had financially sponsored demonstration against State Assembly across the State, which had the potential of igniting violence in our peaceful State of NBG. Being in charge of State security, Generals: Akot Deng and Deng Wol of SPLA’s 3rd Division stabilized the situation by deploying law enforcement agencies to ensure that citizens and their property were protected from those who would have taken law into their own hands. Law and order was successfully maintained in NBGS by joined forces of police and army in the State on 27th January 2015. What Generals Deng Wol and Akot Deng did on that day should be commended by anyone who cares for peace in NBGS. They have once again proven that NBGS will always be a peaceful State and no one can take this precious entity (peace) away from us.
Let me now inform everyone that Generals; Akot Deng and Deng Wol should be congratulated for executing their constitutional mandate to ensure that peace and security prevail in NBGS. They have nothing to do with ongoing political situation in the State. They are there to provide security to everyone without exception.
I urge our citizens to always seek facts before reacting to political developments in the State on the basis of hearsays and emotions. Our State is bigger than our political differences. Let’s put our State first and politic second and ultimately encourage and support our law enforcement agencies and the Army to ensure that no one is allowed to advance his/her political interests through instigating violence among our peaceful citizens.
Finally, people of NBGS should wait for the outcome of the fact-finding committee which is currently in NBGS and the ultimate decision by the President of the Republic.
Garang Kuot
South Sudan
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Here is my Response to Hon. Garang Kuot’s Article Above.
By Dhor-Abun Aher
First, it was good to see my good friend Honorable Garang Kuot doing his best to sort of achieve what I would call a damage control for Gen. Akot Deng Akot, the Northern Bhar el Ghazal’s police Commissioner. One thing I agree with him, Gen. Akot Deng Akot is a hero, but being “decorated” war veteran doesn’t exonerate you from the failures to execute the laws in the perimeter of his jurisdiction.
As for Gen. Deng Wol, it is wrong to compare his actions with Gen. Akot Deng’s action because he stepped in after the report of the police heavy handed approaches, and the potential of the order spiraling out of control. Gen. Deng Wol has done a good job in restoring peace in the state without reported harassments from the soldiers deployed to the city. So let commend Gen. Deng Wol’ actions separated.
Whether Hon. Garang Kuot is part of the larger scheme, I will leave it to the members to decide, but one thing I do know, he was the first to break news of Governor Kuel Aguer’s impeachment on Aweil’s forum, and on his Facebook’s page.
Here is my first question, is the police commissioner in the state not under the jurisdiction of the state government? If it is yes, then where did Gen. Akot Deng Akot get authority to cordon entire Aweil city, stopping commercial activities, medical referrals to Aweil, and disruption of the daily lives of the citizens without a broader consultation from the relevant authority?
Just because Governor was impeached, it doesn’t give the Police Commissioner a right to unilaterally in the state’s security while the Government is not yet dissolved. There are many allegations against Gen. Akot, some I will leave for now because the case is still under investigation, but it is not only Governor Kuel’s group that is accusing Gen. Akot Deng, but his actions are there for the relevant authority to make their own judgment on them.
Honorable Garang Kuot accused people of basing their comments on what he called emotions and hearsays. My question to him is, what gives him a monopoly on the facts of the case when he is living in Juba, and not in Aweil where the residents accused Gen. Akot of attempting to take power by force. Is Hon. Garang Kuot telling us that he is an insider of the scheme to remove Gov. Kuel Aguer; hence he has all the insider information than the rest of us?
Hon. Garang Kuot said that we need to put the needs of our state above politics, and I agree with that call, but not only did he condemn the people who went very low in categorizing Northern Bhar el Ghazal into clans, particularly citing the name “Pachier clan”, but was involved in disseminating that information. Now can my good friend Hon. Garang Kuot “believe by what we preach”, and take moral courage to condemn this divisive actions by the state’s Members of the Parliament we expect to demonstrate unity in their actions?
How can we reconcile this noble patriotism with coordinated efforts he is a part of to create a political crisis in the state when Caretaker Governor Kuel Aguer could be replaced by an elected Governor in less than a year from now?
Also, Hon. Garang Kuot called allegations against Governor Kuel Aguer serious charges on, but the question is what makes charges serious? Did we see any investigations done by the Parliamentary Committee, testimonies from relevant authorities, subpoenaing relevant Government’s officials to establish a fact to paint them as serious charges? What we have seen is a premeditated effort to remove Governor Kuel at all cost, hence using “kangaroo impeached” process accomplished in less than couple of hours to achieve that goal.
Finally, the Americans say, “you can put a lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig”. This impeachment can be wrapped in decorative packages, loaded with all the goodies or cookies, but it will still remain ugly for the majority of Aweil, and the entire South Sudan to buy it.
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