The leadership of the Lakes State government on Tuesday distributed 10 Hart Top Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles to 7 ministers and 3 state advisors.
Speaking shortly after handing over the vehicles to the state officials, Deputy Governor Poth Madit urged those who did not get cars to wait for the second consignment due for delivery in the state.
“We just issued out these 10 vehicles to 3 advisors and 7 ministers. As I said earlier, the distribution of vehicles has been done at random and it was not done in any specific order of seniority or anything,” he explained. “It was a random distribution based on luck.”
The deputy governor said the other ministers and advisors who missed out will be given vehicles when the next consignment arrives in a couple of weeks.
“The 3 (state) advisors that benefited are the peace and security advisor, economic affairs advisor, and the human rights advisor,” he said. “Those who did not get vehicles today will get them soon as I said earlier.”
Deputy Governor Madit did not reveal how much the vehicles cost.
A civil society activist in Lakes State, Daniel Laat Kon, said the state government supposedly procured 17 vehicles but only 10 had arrived so far. He urged the officials who received vehicles to use them for official use and look after them well.
“These vehicles are for official government duty and not for private businesses. We heard on social media that the state government purchased 17 vehicles and these vehicles are in Juba,” he said. “Yesterday, I saw only 10 vehicles were distributed and the whereabouts of the other 7 vehicles are not known.”
“Another contrary information we received is that the 10 vehicles were donated by the presidency to the Lakes State government but we are still following up to find out exactly whether it is true or not,” he added.
Laat urged the ministers and advisors to hand over the vehicles to their successors when they are relieved from office.