Lakes State Governor Distances Himself From Arrest Of 23 Officials Lakes State military caretaker governor, Maj-Gen Matur Chut Dhuol, has distanced himself from the arrest of 23 state officials in Yirol West County and formed a committee to probe the matter he described as ‘personal’. 06 October 2013
*By Gabriel Mayom * *RUMBEK, 06 October 2013 (Gurtong) - *The governor distanced himself from the arrests after the local government administrative unions sent a message condemning the physical torture and humiliation of Yirol West County executive director together with his deputy. In letter signed by Local Government Secretary General who is also serving as chairman of unions of administrative officers, the group had asked the governor to urgently send a committee to find out what caused un-procedural arrest of local government administrators. Yirol West County Commissioner Colonel Majak Ruei angrily ordered for the arrest of teachers, chiefs, teachers and county police inspector as well as Executive Director Thon Rengu Majaok with his deputy Mayom Riak, the Yirol West County town clerk The arrest of two officers was in connection to protests by Yirol Boys Primary school who destroyed the commissioner’s office. There are no charges brought against those arrested and no written warrant of arrest was obtained by police or those arrested during the weekend. On Wednesday, the Commissioner instructed his county police unit to transfer 14 people to Rumbek Central County for further investigations but police in the county resisted the order asking him to present charges that would allow teachers to be taken for further questing in Rumbek Central County. The groups of people aimed to be transfered to Rumbek Central County comprised with 12 teachers, two students, and leader of Yirol West Association Union. Last week, authorities in South Sudan’s Lakes state detained 23 people in connection with violent demonstrations in Yirol West County. The protests started when Lakes State authorities blocked powerful MP David Deng Athorbei, the area lawmaker in the national assembly, from addressing a gathering at Yirol Boys Primary school during the third anniversary in which he was invited as chief guest. Three top South Sudanese intelligence officials visited Yirol West County of Lakes state on Thursday to probe the allegations against MP David Deng Athorbei. The allegations included that MP Athorbei had paid money to Yirol Boys Primary school students who burnt the SPLM office in Yirol West County. The allegations were strongly denied by the MP. The three top security officers returned to Juba on Friday and did not make comments to media on their fact finding mission. Governor Dhuol set up five member committee to investigate the move that caused students to protest against state government which resulted into destruction of commissioner’s office. The committee is headed by Lakes State Minister of Local Government and Law Enforcement Agency Benjamin Laat Mathou and being deputized by state SPLA commander of Division six. The governor said the case will be treated as a personal case between county commissioner and MP David Deng Athorbei. Posted in: Home<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/1/Home.aspx>, Governance<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/6/Governance.aspx> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14ooHqXUV%2Bsd6MnRypyUSP-LE0fdW_MMQapg5PEdvZfb99g%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
