Bona Bhang Dhol, a senior politician from Warrap State and close ally of President Salva Kiir, says that he opposes rewarding the exiled SPLM-G10 politicians with senior government positions during the post-war transitional period, accusing them of corruption during the time they were in power.

During negotiations in early February, Kiir had explicitly accepted that the SPLM-G10 and other minor opposition parties be given a 10% share of ministerial portfolios in a transitional government. Talks about this draft deal have since stopped.

In a recent interview, Bona slammed the SPLM-G10 leaders as corrupt and disloyal, describing them as insufficiently thankful to the president for having given them their political positions 2005-2013.

Bona is a former SPLA commander who presently serves as the head of the security committee in the Warrap State Legislative Assembly. He is one of the Dinka leaders who have served as unofficial advisors to the president. He and Kiir both come from northern Warrap State.

“There is no doubt that the so-called G10 or ‘former detainees’ who have given themselves the right to call themselves ‘historical leaders’, were corrupt and corrupted the system to the core,” he said. 

“You and I know, and everyone knows that Pagan had failed to build a single structure of the SPLM with 30 million US dollars which Arthur Akuien said to have transferred into the SPLM account for which he was the principal accounting officer. What did he do with this money? The public is also aware of the deal with Vivacell,” said Bona.  

“The public too knows the story of Deng Alor and Kosti Manibe. In fact the case of Deng Alor and Kosti Manibe triggered the tension and the planning of the failed coup attempt.  All these criminal cases formed the basis of their dismissal from the cabinet with other corrupt officials, including Riek Machar,” added the Warrap politician.

“If I meet them today, I will first ask them to thank the president and the people of South Sudan for having appointed them and for having had the opportunity to loot the country.”

‘Junior’ officers in SPLM/A

Bhol downplayed the seniority of the exiled SPLM-G10 politicians in the historic SPLM saying they had originally only been ‘junior’ officers. He referred to former minister Gier Chuang as a “radio operator” and former SPLM secretary-general Pagan Amum as a “junior officer” and “captain.”

“The rest were junior officers to many of us when the movement was founded in 1983. If I meet them today, they cannot stand before me but I can stand before them and ask them that if they were not corrupt, where did they get the money to form the companies, build hotels and buy houses in America, in Australia, in Kenya, in Uganda, in Ethiopia, in UK, in Indonesia and in other countries while we just came from the bush?”

He noted that some other senior members of the movement who “fought bravely and captured towns from the enemy” during the 1983-2005 civil war are now struggling even to feed their families, in contrast to the wealthy SPLM-G10.

‘Salva Kiir is honest and humble’

The politician praised Salva Kiir as ‘humble’ and honest, while hinting that the SPLM-G10 should be dealt with harshly, not rewarded with any return to political power.

“If I meet them I can tell them to thank the president for making them rich which has now made them go mad because they think they have the resources to buy people. They should really thank the president for having handpicked them from their senior colleagues and placed them in the leadership positions and rewarded them with appointments into high positions which should have been filled by senior officers if the system was followed and used as the basis of appointment.”

“I will also ask them whether they think those of us who have never had the opportunity to serve in the positions they occupied and never complained and rebelled are fools. I think we need to be sincere and ask ourselves these frank questions. Salva Kiir is indeed an honest and humble man. This is why they are behaving like this, otherwise if it were someone else or if it were they in the position of Salva Kiir, they would not have done all these. 

“They know well how the movement dealt with agitators and betrayers.”

File photo: Seven politicians of the group of ten now known as ‘SPLM-G10’ with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta last year.