Aweil East strongman Manut Yel has allegedly arrested a county official and reopened illegal taxation points closed by the Deputy Minister of Interior last month, according to sources in Northern Bahr al Ghazal.
Youth activists and officials in the area have accused Manut Yel of not being part of the official taxation authority but just an SPLA soldier who collects money for himself and his family and reportedly calls himself the “eye” of General Paul Malong.
Commissioner of Aweil East County Ngor Akok Ngor confirmed the arrest of a county tax staff whom he says has been jailed at a Warawar detention site controlled by Manut Yel.
The commissioner told Radio Tamazuj that he deployed his staff to oversee collection in Peth Lou in Aweil East. He explained that Manut dispatched his “task force” to the area to remove the government officials and arrested one young man accusing him of sending information to county authorities.
He said that he summoned Manut to report to his office but he refused. “I have called him to come into my office but he told me, ‘You are the one to come to my office not me.’ I went to the acting caretaker Governor Chol Ayat with the report but the governor did not take any decision up to now.”
The tax checkpoints controlled by Manut Yel include crossing points between Sudan and Northern Bahr al Ghazal. Sources insisted that Manut is not a staff of the Ministry of Finance.