Rebecca Garang accuses South Sudan Machar of corruption

August 14, 2008 (JUBA) — Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior, southern Sudan government presidential advisor accused GoSS Vice-president of taking tribes from foreign firms, but Rielk Machar dismissed the charges.

Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior

GoSS presidential advisor on Human Rights and former minister of transport told Bloomberg on Thursday "There are individuals in the government of Southern Sudan like our vice president Riek Machar who bring foreign companies because they want to get some percentages of commission from these companies.’’

"It gives a bad image of our government to the world,’’ she added.

The influential widow of the former Sudanese First Vice-President and President of southern Sudan, John Garang, also told southern Sudan legislators on Wednesday that Machar had approved licences for foreign investors in return for a commission.

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the ruling party in the south of the country, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) administrates the semi-autonomous region, decides development programmes and attributes contracts without the intervention of the federal government.

After the tragic death of the SPLM founder John Garang, Riek Machar is appointed as Vice-President of southern Sudan government while Salva Kiir Mayadrit became GoSS president and First Vice President of the republic.

Speaking to the business and financial news service Bloomberg, Machar denied the accusations saying "Those are malicious allegations against me.’’ The region recorded 14,000 cases of corruption in the first half of this year, according to Pauline Riak, chairwoman of the Southern Sudan’s Anti-Corruption Commission.

"There is outright stealing throughout the nation because we have a fragile institutional set-up,’’ Riak said in an interview from Juba, the South Sudan capital, on Aug. 11. `"The commission can not execute its duties because there is no law to enforce its mandate.’’