Clarifying the Dispute between Mayor Nhial Majak Nhial and Minister Wal Athiu Madol
16 min readTruth hurts, but must be told: The dispute between Bor Mayor Nhial Majak and Gen. Wal Athiu over Government land in Bor, Jonglei state
By Aideed Koryom, South Sudan
Three clarifications about this land in Dispute:
Clarification 1: From Aideed Koryom.
The area in dispute is the downtown/central MadingBor also known as A-1 (Area 1) in big cities. It is the heart of the city for those that own plots or wants to own plot there. It is near Bor Hospital rotary and near the old market that was demolished by the end of 2007 early 2008. It is adjacent to Jonglei assembly building, Police station and old jonglei prison and court. Governor’s office is there as well as his residence. Bor A and B primary schools on the other side.
Shops were demolished in late 2007 early 2008 and market moved to its current place (Maror Market) and the area declared public land to be used for government buildings only and the entire area became public land/property. Thon Leek was the governor and Kuol Manyang later replace him. Everyone that applied for plot in that area was denied plot and was not surveyed. Amuor Kuol was the minister of land then. Bor commissioner was not authorized to issue plots in that area nor was anyone looking for business or private plot given plot.
Clarification 2: From Thon John Anyang Anyieth in Bor now.
In a real sense, Mayor according to local Government Act 2009 is under the leadership of the Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement unless the powers are not understood by the people. There was a statement said that brought the tension not because of the plot of land. Areas of residential are different from investment lands nor the public lands owned by the Government. The land was discussed in the State Council of Minister to be an area for the construction of the State Secretariat headquarters Administrative block in that disputed area. Gen. kong Nyuon promised the people of Bor to construct secretariat during his leadership which was not proposed by outgoing two Governors comrade Thon Leek, Kuol Manyang Juuk.
Gen. KONG NYUON told the Council of Ministers and State Assembly to allocate a budget of 3 Millions South Sudanese pounds to be approved by the Assembly and Council of Ministers for the construction of State Secretariat. When the meeting ended, the following day Mayor came and fenced the area and when Mr WAL was passing, he saw the workers digging the holes then WAL ATHIU stopped and asked workers (what are you doing)?. The workers replied saying ” we are doing the fence of Hon Mayor. Wal said you leave the work. The workers understood to leave the work. Mayor came and asked his workers ( why did you leave the work )?
The workers replied saying, ” we were told by Gen Wal to stop the work. Mayor became aggressive and he went to WAL and asked him why my workers stopped not to work. Wal said, who gave you the land as you knew it before in the meeting that this land has been discussed and approved by Council of Ministers and the Assembly to construct Government Administrative block? Hon Mayor became aggressive and exchanged some words amongst each other. In the following day SUSPENSION came in. If you were/ are JUDGES how could / can you resolved it before? Critics of who is wrong and who is good is not your discussion. There is a guilty one and who is not guilty to be proved in the findings not CLANNISH discussions or supportive statements against each other STOP please we wait for the outcomes.
Clarification 3: From Agreb Leek Chol in Bor now.
First, I would like to clarify that the suspension of Hon. Nhial Majak was NOT related to the ‘land allotment’ as many uninformed critics may seems to argue. However, the argument between Hon. Wal Athieu, Minister of Local Government & Law Enforcement and Hon. Nhial, Mayor of Bor Town happened due to misunderstanding of Hon. Wal on whether Hon. Nhial own the land he was constructing his residency.
Thus, one ought to differentiate between the ‘dispute over the land allotment’ and ‘plot dispute’. It’s clear that the critiques or arguments being presented on social media and other news outlets in South Sudan are contrary to what actually took place. To reiterate, those who had written about this incident so far are basing their arguments on hearsay.
The plot in which the Mayor was constructing his home is located near the roundabout of Jonglei State Hospital; and it’s also adjacent to the Police Station. The land “title” however shows that, Hon. Nhial Majak is the owner of the plot given his documents which he obtained at the time of the former Commissioner, Dr. Agot Alier.
When Hon. Wal arrived at the location with his guards, an argument ensued after Hon Wal demanded Hon. Nhial’s workers to stop further construction according to an eye witness. This witness (name withheld) confirmed that both parties had a “serious argument”; however, Hon. Wal left the area WITHOUT ANY ‘PHYSICAL CONFRONTATION’ with Hon. Nhial.The truth to the matter is Hon. Nhial Majak never went looking for uncle Wal at his residency or at his office. Their argument ended there.
In his own words, “I’m the owner of the plot and if the very government which I work for recalled my plot, then, I have no problem with it but thier must be a proper way to address it without coming to my private property with armed personnel. We have our offices and we can solve this professionally without any quarrels. And it pains me when someone assume that I’m grabbing land, which I have never been part of since I arrived in Jonglei State. Secondly, I’m not the only person in area and if the government needs to construct thier offices in this area then I should be consulted and shown another place. Well, this procedure was never taken and it resulted in an argument”.
Days later, Hon. Nhial Majak was served with a letter of “suspension” until further notice by H.E. Mr. John Kong Nyuon, the Governor of Jonglei State. Furthermore, the Governor set up a committee to investigate both parties involved. And last week the committee finalized their investigation and the Governor has not yet been brief about the findings. He’s currently in Juba on a official visit but he will return to the state sooner or later.
NB: Last but not least, the removal of Dr. Agot Alier and the recent deliberation over the demarcation of Bor Municipal Council and Bor County are absolutely not related to his suspension! Again, this note is for clarification purpose only. I’m not in any position to judge who is wrong here, but only to clarify what actually took place since it has already taken out of context abroad and at home. Leek Chol.
- Now with these three clarifications, who own the Property? Does it belong to the public/government in this case or does it belong to Nhial Majak?
- Is Nhial Majak’s Title to the land legal/valid or void since the property was declared public land way before Nhial Majak move to Bor?
- Why did the very government that declare the land public before decided again and offer plot to Nhial Majak after all was denying everyone plot?
- Does Nhial Majak have special privileges in Bor to be given public land that was reserved for government
- What about those people whose shops and properties were demolished and told this area is going to be public land only
- What about those that want and have applied to have plot in that area but were denied because the area was declare to be use for government building only
- Why didn’t the first two commissioners (Jok Ariing and Maker Lual) had the authority to issue plots in that area but Agoot Alier.
- These questions need to e answered well before that property goes to Nhial Majak.
If you can’t take criticism as a politician, then you are in a wrong career.
The public especially, in western world do not care about great things politician do because it is their job and duty so they can gain public trust. What the public care and wants to know is what a politician did wrong (corruption the most) and his political career is over. There is no CNN, FoxNews, BBC or local news in South Sudan to report on behaviors of politicians but Social media is the only media outlet that is use by the public.
Nhial Majak is a politician in South Sudan and he needs to take criticism from the public for his action. People are out there telling others to stop talking about this issue on social media but they are wrong. We have to talk about it and this is where the politic and media get interesting. If this would have happened in the US, media would be camping on Nhial Majak property right now covering this event and Nhial Majak would be covering his face from cameras. So do not tell others to stop talking about it. Jonglei public do not care about what the outcome from the court or that special committee will say. The land is a public land and Nhial Majak is trying to grabbing it for his own private use. We, Jonglei public should be standing with Gen. Wal Athiu defending the public interest/land from Nhial Majak.
My people of Bor, we might be the worse in South Sudan sometime because we like to depend our corrupt official. We like to point fingers and write negative about other people that are not from our own tribe when they corrupt or wrong, but when one among us is wrong, we take clannish and tribal stand and we do not want others to know and read about what they did. This tribal and clannish mentality is the one destroying South Sudan and will bring us backward not forward. We need to let people carry their own cross.
Why are people defending Nhial Majak while he is trying to take property that belongs to us, Jonglei public? We have to let people across south Sudan know what the Mayor of Bor did. We have to let all the mayors in south Sudan know. We have to let other tribes in South Sudan know what our mayor did and we have to let them know how we treat it. This is a case of corruption caught red handed and we have to let the public know about it. Standing with corrupt politician when they are wrong will not move our nation toward diversity. We the public expect honesty and truthfulness from our politicians and they must give them to us. So speak up people. This is our public land not Nhial Majak private plot.
Big Guns/Artillary/Howertzer (Mangok Mach Bol) are now involved in defend of Nhial Majak and are condemning me (Aideed Koryom) with the strongest term possible and this is what he said…
Mangok Mach Bol Thank you Agreb, Leek Chol Lueth Leek for this clarification. The way this situation between the Mayor and Gen. Wal Athiu was portrayed by the media outlet was very unfortunate and misleading. We’re hoping that one way or the other, this issue will be resolved peacefully. With that being said, I was stunned with how some brothers here tried to stretch it. Brother Aideed Koryom, I thought your characterization of the situation and your attack on the mayor were out of context and very offensive to say the least. Labeling the mayor as selfish was truly misplaced! If anything, this gentlemen deserve more from the voice of reason for his selfless. Needless to say, Nicholas Nhial took his people to heart by taking risk on many occasions.
I wonder if you were there in December 2013 during the crisis in South Sudan. He was with his people dodging bullets in the bushes between Bor and Juba- Would you call that being selfish! Just to tell you what I witnessed myself in March 2014 in Bor. The Mayor with some dedicated sons and daughters of Bor helped cleaned the town that was littered with dead bodies- this was not an ordinary task per se, but a daunting task of dealing with rotting bodies. I visited with the mayor one of the mass graves site in Bor along with BBC crews and I remembered struggling with emotion of how the town we all call home was reduced to nothing- again that demanding task was initiated by the same gentleman you’re trying to degrade!! Would you again term this as being selfish or would you give it a better name? Common bro, I would advise you to divorce from that grudge!
Malual Achiek Mayen, I was also surprised by your statement. I don’t think Gen. Kuol Manyang Juuk would appoint someone that would never deliver. What he saw in Nhial Majak is what some who knows him would expect from him. So to borrow your words, your uncle was not wrong in his appointment and he would never regret his initial decision. The point is, let’s give credit where they belong and when earned- that’s the only way we can steer our community in a right direction. In conclusion, the outstanding misunderstanding between Gen. Waldit and the Mayor, Nicholas Nhial will be resolved through an appropriate channel but please refrain from dragging it out of context. Peace.
Mangok Mach and others supporting Nhial Majak are thanking Agreb Leek’s clarification because it states that Nhial Majak acquire title to the said land from the former commissioner Agoot Alier and he, Nhial Majak has legal documents showing he is the owner of the land. But, what you tend to ignore is that this particular area was reserved and designated for government building only way before Nhial Majak came to Bor. if this area was to be surveyed, there would have been no plot left to be given to Nhial Majak at the time of Agoot Alier commissionership. It would have been surveyed when Jok Ariing was the commissioner. This is the best land in Bor and everyone was eyeing for a plot there then.
As for Dec. 2013 crisis Mangok Mach, Nhial Majak was not a hero. Nhial thinks and people like you thinks he, Nhial Majak has special privileges among all Bor sons that he should be given public land. Nhial Majak was the first to cross the river when Gadet took over Bor. he had the privilege to get a boat first and people met him in Guolyar. After we lost our hero Gen. Abraham Jongroor and Gen. Malual Ayom took over Bor with few Bor sons that volunteered and joined the SPLA with help from UPDF, Nhial came as a politician to clean the city.
Mangok Mach, Nhial Majak does not deserve to be treated like a hero because he had help clean Bor during the crisis of dead bodies. It was his official duty as the city mayor. Anyone that would have been in his position, as Bor Mayor would have done the same. It was our duty to honor our deceased and burry them with honor. Mangok Mach, politicians do not get credit for their official duties as politicians and legal obligation my friend and that is where you got it wrong. Mangok Mach, You have live in America for this long and still you have not learnt that politicians are not heroes and do not get credits for their duties as politicians.
Heroes during the 2013 crisis are people like Mach Achuek, Akech Makuei. Those that volunteered and stood with Gen. Abraham Jongroor and Gen. Malual Ayom are the heroes. Heroes are people that put their life in line in defend of others and common good. Nhial Majak did not put his life in line during the 2013 crisis to be a hero and he, Nhial Majak that we all know will be the last person to put his life in line for others my friend. He is not a hero in Bor to be given public land.
Nhial Majak that we knew in Kakuma is still the same Nhial Majak my friend Mangok Mach and it was wrong for Gen. Kuol Manyang to give him that job of Bor Mayor. He Nhial Majak has turned the office of Bor mayor into face Book office shopping for comments and likes. Next time you fail to put a leash on your tongue Mangok, I know where to find you because you see yourself in future Bor Leadership and I only go after corrupt and selfish leaders.
Nhial Majak sympathizers are condemning Gen. Wal Athiu and are calling Gen. Wal Athiu Madol a “Hypocrite” and this statement receive a thumb up from both Hon. Mayor Nhial Majak and Mangok Mach Bol and are all condemning me Aideed Koryom for referring to Hon. Mayor Nhial Majak “selfish.”
This is the statement supported by Hon. Nhial Majak and Mangok Mach
Bior-kueigak De Chol-manyangdiid Deng “Well# Ngongdiid, we ve parallel opinions but distance on fb doesn’t interference with my right n ur right too, that why we needs to be curiousity in occurrence don’t let’s us judge the small book according to its cover. You re already see now, you said that it’s misunderstanding among two individuals then the case was whisltering up to Governor, and committee level following Rumuor suspension or warning. In which criteria did the matter take steps up to that stages, So I Remain a man, I ve no trust for hypocrite.” Bior-Kueigak.
Really people, is Wal Athiu a Hypocrite because he reported Nhial Majak to gov. Kuong because Nhial was trying to take land that belong to the public for his personal use. Did we forget history? Who the heroes in Bor are? Who fight for the independence of this nation? Isn’t Gen. Wal not in the list of the fearless, selfless fighters we had? Now he is a hypocrite because he stopped Nhial Majak from taking property that belong to the government of Jonglei? Are we comparing Gen. Wal with Nhial Majak and Nhial is the hero we like and want and Wal Athiu is nothing to the people of Jonglei and Bor? Really, General. Wal Athiu Madol a hypocrite?
With the creation of 28 states, there is a power vacuum created especially in states like Jonglei where the governor is not a native of that state and will leave the state. The only legitimate authority that would be left temporarily in Bor is Mayor Nhial Majak in charge of Bor. this power vacuum is where he, Nhial Majak tries to take advantage of and sneak in and grab the land that belong to the state with no one knowing and claim it later to the new governor that this property belong to him.
This action of a person that is this sneaky, going in the back door, taking something he did not own, claim it his, while people are waiting for the new leader are actions of a hypocrite, and a selfish leader, not action of a selfless General like Wal Athiu who for his entire life been defending public interest.
Nhial Majak Statue of his name. (Foundation Stone for Bor Municipality).
To the public, Bor Mayor Nhial Majak had built Bor Municipality Foundation Stone in Bor established on July 9 2015. The name of the mayor he Nhial Majak is on the stone on the city of Bor ground and it is permanent. That stone with his name will be there forever, 100 of years to come.
The only issue with this Mr. mayor Nhial Majak is that you have recognized yourself. Jonglei or Bor people are the one supposed to recognize the great work that you are doing for them. You have no rights and powers to put your own name on the city ground permanently without consent from the people of Bor and Jonglei.
This foundation stone is a mere statue of your name not a foundation stone for Bor Municipality and that is the reason you built it “a statue of your name.” You were just shy away from building your own statue on the city ground and you call it foundation stone. There are heroes in Bor that deserve their name on Bor public grounds not you Nhial Majak. I don’t know about Australia where you live but in the US, there is JFK, Washington and many other leaders/heroes with street and public buildings named after them by the public. They did not name those public places after themselves when they were governing the people. People voted to name those public places after them for the services they did to the people. You cannot recognize yourself.
That foundation stone was a waste of city resources that could have been used for other things in the city. Eg. Bor has main two primary schools (Bor A and Bor B) and you know how congested they are. Couldn’t you just think of building another school with those resources that you just wasted with that statue of your name Nhial Majak?
In conclusion, Nhial Majak does not own the land. His title to the said property is void. That property belongs to Jonglei state government. If for any reason, other than the first two clarifications the Land is not given to the state, the case will be there and will still be raised in the future because this land was reserved for public use way before Nhial Majak came to Bor.
I do not support tribal/clannish politic. It is bringing South Sudan backward, not forward. We need to let politicians carry their own cross for their corruption for South Sudan to be diverse and prosper.
Truth hurts, but must be told.
Aideed Koryom, the author, can be reached via his email: Aideed Koryom <aideedkoryom@gmail.com>
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