The former chief of the Achak clan in Abyei’s Rumamer County, Monyluak Monyror, on Friday, rejected the results of an election in which he stood against and lost to Nyuol Ayuel on 20 September and said he has sued the county commissioner, Auel Kiir for dictating the results.
The disgruntled chief said the genesis of the problem was when he took leave to take his sick wife to Khartoum for treatment in 2018 and left Chief Ring Makuach to act on his behalf. He explained that his detractors rejected the acting chief and also opposed his leadership when he returned but that the then commissioner, now deceased, Mayot Kuindik, calmed the people and told them that changing of a chief is procedural and should be approved by the minister of local government.
Monyror contends that the current problem started during the administration of Ayuel Kiir, the current Rumamer County commissioner and the current chief administrator of Abyei, Chol Deng Alaak.
“Ayuel Kiir, the current commissioner, issued the order suspending me without consulting the Abyei local government minister and appointed Nyuol Ayuel in my position,” he explained. “I was not even given a copy of the letter and Abyei FM surprised me when they called me for comment.”
Chief Monyror also accused the commissioner of ordering security personnel to beat him on a public road earlier this year and that the matter was reported to the local government minister.
He told Radio Tamazuj that he rejected the election results because they were altered and that it was a violation of the Local Government Act for the commissioner to organize elections without the Ministry of Local Government overseeing it and consulting the community.
“When the chief administrator came from medical treatment abroad, I went to him over the matter and he also refused to say anything, officials from the ministry of local government eventually served me with an election schedule and it surprised me how a suspended person can go for elections,” he said. “Article 105 of the Local Government Act says elections should not be organized when a complainant is following the legal procedures of dismissal. I refused to attend the election in which the committee claimed I got only 4 votes out of 340.”
Monyror condemned the composition of the electoral committee, and election results and said he has opened a case against the commissioner of Rumamer County in the Kuajok High Court in Warrap State and that the judge announced 21 November as the date for the first hearing.
“My challenger was sitting in the election room with his voting box and another box had my name, Monyluak Monyror, written on it,” he stated. “If I had gone for the elections, my wives, children, and close relatives would be more than the four people they claimed voted.”
For his part, Nyuol Ayuel, the newly elected chief, thanked the Achak clan for the trust bestowed upon him to lead them as head chief.
“I am the elected head chief of the Achak clan, they proposed I lead them before elections because the former chief was pulling ropes with clan members and the commissioner wrote a request according to Article 105 of the Local Government Act for the election to be conducted, so, it was held, I won and will assume office when I am sworn in,” he said.
Ayuel said he is happy with the results as he did not win through rigging but was voted in by the people of the Achak which is the biggest in the nine chieftaincies of Abyei.
Meanwhile, Rumamer County Commissioner Ayuel Kiir denied the accusation that he supported the newly appointed chief and said he was ready to appear in court.
“The security of the county is stable nowadays, only that some elements from SSPDF removed iron sheets and building materials from an MSF site in the Juol-Jook area. As for the case of former chief Monyluak, his people from the Achak clan have not liked him since the time of Deng Alor and Kuol Diem the former chief administrators of Abyei,” he stated. “Article 105 of the Local Government Act gives the right to the local authority to organize election which I did. Out of 436 registered voters, 4 voted for him and the rest voted for Nyuol Ayuel.”
Commissioner Kiir said he did not bring any people from a different clan to vote and that the voters were from Monyror’s clan.
For his part, Nhial Yak Duper, the chairperson of the electoral committee, said the election was free and fair.
“The election was carried out on 20 September in Marial Achak Boma and the two contenders were Monyluak Monyror and Nyuol Ayuel,” he explained. “336 voted for Nyuol and 4 voted for Monyror and registered voters were 440 and as a committee, we received no official letter from Monyluak rejecting the results.”
However, Abuonweng Majid, the Abyei local government minister, said Commissioner Kiir does not understand the legal procedures.
“He suspended Chief Monyror while I was in Juba and when I came during the time of my incident at Agok Airport in April, I wrote a letter of rejection because the commissioner did not consult me and no legal procedures were followed,” she explained. “The former chief administrators, Deng Alor and Kuol Deim refused elections as it was not the right time then. Also, commissioners have no right to appoint or remove chiefs according to Article 117 of the Local Government Act.”