F.A.C.C condemns Justice Makuei's mishandling of Mr. Arthur Akuein's case: victimization of Aweil citizens should stop.

The Federation of Aweil Communities in Canada would like to inform the general public that the case involving Arthur Akuein Chol and Justice Minister, Makuei Lueth is, without a doubt, a classical political wish-hunt. But, perhaps, the most disheartening aspect of this politically motivated case is that it was being engineered outside established legal system. It has been nearly four months now since citizens of South Sudan were informed of a committee formed to investigate an alleged scandal by former Finance Minister, Arthur Akuein Chol. To this day, members of South Sudan are still waiting for the outcome of the investigation. We, members of the F.A.C.C, are beginning to wonder whether this committee will ever publish its findings. The recent events, however, seem to suggest that the investigation was meant to be indefinite otherwise nothing under the sun would have prompted Justice Minister, Makuei Lueth to arbitrarily ordered an arrest of Mr. Akuein Chol.

Up until last week, members of the F.A.C.C, and indeed citizens of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, were keenly waiting for the outcome of the investigation over alleged scandal by Arthur Akuein Chol only to be surprised by his unlawful and unwarranted arrest. To the astonishment of many people, Mr. Arthur Akuein was arrested without court hearing or arrest warrant from any judge. In hours leading to his arrest, Mr. Arthur Akuein was summoned by Justice Minister, Makuei Lueth, and advised him not to consult his lawyers since it was a brief visit. Upon arriving at the Justice Minister’s office, he was informed of his arrest. Mr. Akuein could not believe his ears because it didn’t make sense to him that he would be deceived and arrested without being taken to court and without arrest warrant. But Justice Minister, Makuei Lueth meant his words, Mr. Akuein was told to pay 5 million dollars or face indefinite jail term. Here we must pose and ask: where in the world does legal system function like that? The whole case appeared as if Justice Makuei Lueth was the judge as well as persecutor of the case. Any impartial person would definitely agree with us that the recent case clearly shows how bankrupt the judicial system under Makuei Lueth is. Even a village chief without legal background would know when and how to arrest a wrong doer; he would never do it in the manner in which it was done by Justice Makuei Lueth.

The illegal arrest of Arthur Akuein was made without knowledge of his defense lawyers and judiciary community in Juba.

Upon realizing that he was deceived, Mr. Akuein Chol summoned some members of Aweil community as well as other senior government officials to witness what was unfolding. People came and tried to reason with Justice Makuei Lueth by telling him that what he was doing was wrong and that Arthur Akuein’s case was pending investigation. But Makuei Lueth could not be swayed by such wise advice. At his capacity as acting President of GOSS when President Salva was leaving for China, Vice President Dr. Riek Machar was informed about what was going on. He intervened and did what every leader would do in a similar situation, but Makuei Lueth couldn’t listen to his superior. Other government figures like Hon. Kuol Manyang also tried their best to turn things around but to no avail as well. Determined to execute his and group’s agenda, Justice Makuei Lueth went ahead and ordered policemen to take Mr. Akuein to a commoners’ custody without regard to constitutional position which Mr. Arthur still holds. We would like to inform the reader that Mr. Arthur Akuein is a member of SSLA representing Aweil South County. At that point of Mr. Arthur’s arrest, the whole issue began to look more personal than legal. Aweil community members went as far as accepting to pay a bond but Makuei Lueth, who was obviously bent toward seeing Akuein Chol imprisoned, refused the offer and immediately turned off all his telephones in order to block communications. As planned, Mr. Arthur Akuein was taken to prison at 2.00 pm and remained there till 9.00 pm.

As if Justice Makuei’s action was not provocative enough, he ordered the police to take Arthur Akuein into criminals’ prison where those with grave crimes such as murderers are kept. Makuei Lueth ignored the fact that Arthur Akuein was an MP of parliament who deserved some level of respect even if he were indicted by the court. It was at around 9.00 pm, after Justice Minister had refused to communicate with anybody including his superiors and after all efforts to bail Arthur Akuein out had failed that small number of unarmed Aweil youths in Juba were able to convince guards to hand over Mr. Arthur for one night since his security wasn’t properly taken care of and Justice Makuei’s motive was highly suspicious.

As soon as Arthur Akuein was taken home by Aweil youths, Justice Makuei Lueth’s “hired guns” went on campaign trail by misinforming every media outlet including Al Sahafa in Khartoum that “nine cars filled with well armed men believed to be from Arthur Quinn’s [sic] Dinka tribe …” had forcefully removed Arthur Akuein out of prison. These same liars sent by Justice Makuei went as far as misinforming the public that the same alleged attackers “also attacked the residence of the legal advisers, which was vacant at the time.” Who would belief in such lies? We believe that all these lies were fabricated in order to fulfill one agenda: to portray Aweil people as lawless, a charge that will never hold water. At the time of this press, Justice Makuei’s group of liars was aggressively disseminating inaccurate and questionable information on various discussions fora against Arthur Akuein and Aweil Community. It’s worth mentioning that Aweil community and indeed majority of peace loving citizens of South Sudan have been following this malicious campaign against Aweil community with increased concern.

Therefore, F.A.C.C wishes here to inform Southerners that no such thing as “Aweil soldiers had forcefully removed Arthur Akuein from prison” ever took place; all these lies are part and parcel of overall propaganda meant to destroy political standing of Arthur Akuein and Aweil people. Arthur Akuein was removed by unarmed youth who were understandably frustrated by Justice Makuei’s illegal activity. If Justice Makuei had followed established legal system, no Aweil citizen would have dared cross the legal line but the manner in which Mr. Makuei had approached the case was legally wrong and leaves a lot to be desired. It has to be recalled that Mr. Arthur has been under house arrest for four months without trial but no single Aweil youth ever ventured to do anything about it, let alone removing him from prison as it is being claimed.

Sadly, Justice Makuei’s group has been misinforming the public that “Aweil soldiers” removed Akuein Chol from prison by force while failing to remember that Aweil does not have soldiers of its own. The language being used by Makuei Lueth and his group explains exactly what they were thinking when they conspired to arbitrarily detain Akuein Chol without giving him chance to defend himself in the court of law. The constitution of South Sudan is quite explicit on cases like this: every citizen is presumed innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. How could Justice Makuei Lueth, a presumed custodian of law, forget this key clause in the constitution of the land? We hope SSLA will demand honest answer to this question from Justice Minister.

Having clarified what transpired in Juba last week, we must at this point pose and ask the following questions:

1. Where in the world do people get arrested without arrest warrant from the court? Additionally, where in the world do people under house arrest get arrested by the police without having shown signs of escaping? Where in the world do members of parliament get jailed in criminals’ prisons without regard to status? In our view, this only happens in judicial system run by tribal or sectional minded Justice Ministers. What we and indeed, the rest of South Sudanese expected was that, investigation committee was going to present its findings regarding the alleged crime by Arthur Akuein to the court. Then the court would try Arthur Akuein based on the findings. However, instead of following the normal legal procedures, Justice Makuei Lueth decided to arrest Akuein Chol without regard to every factor mentioned thus far. And when his intention was exposed, he was the first to mobilize people against Akuein Chol and his community. What is it that Justice Makuei Lueth out to accomplish, if we may ask?

2. If Akuein Chol was to remind in prison, as Justice Makuei intended to do, what would have happened to on-going investigation? Would it be stopped since the arrest and imprisonment of Arthur Akuein would have implied that he, Arthur Akuein, was found guilty and convicted outside the court? Similarly, if Justice Minister knew that Arthur Akuein was guilty of anything, why couldn’t he present those charges to investigation committee who would in turn present them to the court? Why did the government waste national resources by forming needless investigation committee if “legal expert,” Justice Makuei knew that Arthur was guilty? Unless Justice Makuei Lueth had forgotten the on-going investigation, something seemed to be terribly wrong with how he, Justice Makuei, wanted to jail Akuein Chol

3. What prompted Justice Makuei Lueth to refuse communicating with people including GOSS leaders? What were the motives behind his hasty decision to jail Arthur Akuein without consulting GoSS and Legislative Assembly? Why was Justice Minister turning down those attempting to bail Mr. Arthur Akuein out? Southerners deserves honest and immediate answers from Justice Makuei Lueth.

From legal point of view, Justice Minister Makuei Lueth should have made his findings known to at least Arthur Akuein Chol’s legal team before rushing to arrest Mr. Arthur. Secondly, he should have presented his case in court of law so that Arthur’s fate was decided by judges and not ministers like him. However, one might wonder: what prevented Justice Makuei from following legal procedures. Well, the answer lies in what we consider as calculated conspiracy against Arthur Akuein and members of Aweil community in the GoSS. It wasn’t long ago when Justice Makuei’s colleague, Hon. Dr. Luka Biong, Minister for Presidential Affairs, had this to say during his presentation in Melbourne, Australia: “Although the minister of finance try [sic] to distance himself from all these [corruption allegations], the events clearly indicate that he is a party to all these and we will work to prove our government right." Indeed, the Justice Minister in collaboration with Presidential Affairs Minister are working “very hard” as they promised to prove their government right. What a coalition of experts?

Judging from his deeds, Justice Makuei was only filling Dr. Luka’s promise, to prove their government right whether by hook or crook. Nevertheless, Justice Makuei was disappointed that he didn’t succeed to lock Mr. Arthur up for the rest of his life. Now, the minister is venting his wrath on innocent Mading Aweil Youth in Juba threatening them with unspecified jail terms for allegedly freeing Arthur by force. The scheme that is at work in the Justice Minister’s office, as we speak, is to drive youth of Northern Bahr el Ghazal out of Juba so that people like Dr. Luka and Justice Makuei are able to target and subdue their prey at will and at the time of their choosing. This will not happen because we are watching!

At this juncture, members of the F.A.C.C would like to condemn, quite strongly, the illegal and premature decision by Justice Makuei Lueth to arbitrarily attempt to jail Arthur Akuein without court’s ruling. Justice Makuei’s decision was not justified under any known law; he should have waited for the findings of the investigation before considering arresting Mr. Akuein Chol. We belief that Makuei Lueth’s decision has gravely undermined the on-going investigation and therefore demand that, he, Justice Makuei be removed from handling the case because he can not longer be trusted to play impartial role on the case since he has demonstrated conflict of interest. If Justice Makuei is allowed to continue handling this matter, there is every reason to belief that he will manipulate the case to suit his interest and not that of the nation. We also condemn Justice Makuei Lueth for putting his interest above national security. His premature decision to arrest Arthur Akuein without waiting for the findings of the investigation and without regard to known law had greatly jeopardized national security. His action had the potential of triggering a very messy situation in Juba. This should not go unpunished.

Pertaining to his intention to arrest Aweil youths in Juba, F.A.C.C wishes to strongly advise Justice Makuei Lueth to reconsider his provocative pursuit, for he has done enough image-damage to Aweil community already and should stop at that. Secondly, Justice Makuei was the first to break the law despite being the head of the legal department. Therefore, if anyone is to be punished, it would definitely be Justice Makuei Lueth himself who regrettably abused the powers entrusted on him by the GoSS. Aweil youth action was fully justified as it was provoked by Makuei Lueth’s malicious decision and motive. Furthermore, Aweil Youths decision to remove Arthur Akuein from prison was a pure act of protest against injustice being practice by Makuei Lueth. It was also prompted by concerns over personal safety of Arthur Akuein. If Justice Makuei thinks he still has moral and legal integrity to bring justice to anyone, then he had better look some where else because Mr. Arthur isn’t proven guilty yet.

We would like to end this article by saying that Arthur Akuein should be given opportunity to defend himself in the court of law without unnecessary interference from those who want to prove their government right. At the same time, we would like to reiterate that Justice Makuei Lueth be removed from handling the case because the issue seems to have become personal between himself on one hand and Arthur Akuein and Aweil community on the other. Finally, our youth in Juba must not be victimized under any circumstances as they are law abiding citizens. However, if they are unfairly victimized under similar circumstances by Justice Makuei’s hired-guns, then our youth have every right to defend themselves.

Signed:

Sabrino Majok Majok,

President,

Federation of Aweil Communities in Canada (F.A.C.C.)

federationofaweil@yahoo.ca