President Salva Kiir’s wife invested in a water-bottling plant in South Sudan’s capital owned by one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, former National Congress Party (NCP) Governor of Northern Bahr al Ghazal State Garang Deng Aguer.
The business relationship between the Kiir family and the NCP politician formerly loyal to President Omar al Bashir is one of several connections between Kiir and private enterprises revealed by Radio Tamazuj in an exclusive investigative series.
Yanyyom Mineral Water and Beverage Factory takes its name from Lake Yanyyom, located near the president’s hometown Akon in Warrap State.
President Salva Kiir presided over the opening of the factory in November 2008, accompanied by a military band. After its opening the factory employed 24 staff and produced about 12,000 600ml bottles of water per day, according to a report by Gurtong in 2009.
The company is part of the Alok Group of Companies owned in part by Garang Deng Aguer, who governed Northern Bahr al Ghazal before the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. An anonymous source with knowledge of the company’s background said that Mary Ayen, the wife of Salva Kiir, purchased a 25% share in the factory when it was established in 2008 but later withdrew her investment in 2010.
The First Lady’s withdrawal of support may have negatively affected the company’s performance; two sources confirmed that the company is no longer producing.
In an interview last month, one of the staff working at the company’s premises at Konyo Konyo Market near the Nile said that the company has stopped its production since about a year ago. He said the company had run out of hard currency and fuel to supply their generators.
“The company is not working for almost one year, this is due to the crisis in the country and also the shortage of getting dollars and fuel to run our generators is also is our major problem,” he said.
However, according to the other source, the lack of dollars was a factor in the shutdown of the factory but not the primary cause, which he said was lack of strong management. He claimed an Egyptian business partner contributed to the downfall of the factory by allegedly making off with a large sum of money under contested circumstances.
Contacted by phone, Garang Deng Aguer admitted the closure of the factory saying the causes were administrative, but he did not explain further. He was unwilling to discuss the matter further.
At least three of Garang Deng’s companies have acted as suppliers to major government institutions in South Sudan, including Yanyyom and Rak Media Printing and Advertising Company.
On its website, Rak Media lists the Office of the President as its first client. Separately, an employee of Yanyyom said in a video posted on the video-sharing site YouTube in 2011 that a delivery of water bottles shown in the video was for “the president’s dinner.”
This report is published as part of a special investigative series. Anyone wanting to comment on this report or send further information should contact Radio Tamazuj here.
Photo (above): Salva Kiir Mayardit (file)
Gallery photos (below): Kiir at the opening of Yanyyom factory in 2008