By Lado Venusto
With or without consciousness, Dr. Benjamin Mel, President Salva Kiir’s Special Advisor, is digging a deep grave for the President. He is certainly aware of his wicked and destructive acts against the head of state and the country. Bol Mel is a dangerous chap.
He holds six sensitive and influential positions in the government and the private sector. He is a special advisor for the President on mega-economic projects, Lieutenant General in National Security, Deputy Secretary of the ruling SPLM party, Chairman of the National Chamber of Commerce, and Chair of ARC’s road construction company.
In addition, Bol Mel has recruited his secret wife (pictured above with him), Mrs. Rita, Office Manager to President Kiir. She is his eyes and ears in the presidency. Bol Mel is involved in the major sacking of Ministers and officials; especially those institutions connected with money, for example, the Ministry of Finance, Revenue Authority, and the Central.
Mrs. Rita, Office Manager to President Kiir. She is his eyes and ears in the presidency. Bol Mel
He is everything in the South Sudan government. He owns a private jet being used for money laundering to evade US sanctions. He mostly laundered money from the United Arab Emirates.
Further, Bol Mel has diverted money for salaries from the central bank to his road projects. All the roads he has constructed are poor of standards and many of them have been washed away by the raids. Salaries were not paid for 10 months because of Bol Mel. Many of our Embassies in Europe and America had ceased operations, schools were closed and hospitals were ill-equipped because Bol Mel had looted their money.
The laundered money is stored in his home in Juba, Nairobi, and Kampala. He is deadly, a wild man, feared by most people in South Sudan; you cannot challenge him unless you have the lion’s gut to do so; even the Director General of the Internal Security Bureau, Lt. Akol Koor cannot challenge him as he is the bad guy behind the firing of some senior officials in the government.
Recently, we learned that Bol Mel is behind the relieving of the former Ministers of Finance and Planning, Dr. Bak, and Engineer Awow Plus the former Nilepet MD, Eng. Bernard Amour. He hated these honest SPLM cadres because they were honest and loyal to the nation, not to him.
The moment you disagree with Bol Mel; know that you are out of your position. Bol Mel disagreed with Engineer Amour over the acquisition of PETRONAS shares, he felt disappointed then he influenced President Kiir to fire Armour without tabling convincing reason(s) for the sacking of one of the dedicated and experienced SPLM young cadres.
He brought in his puppets. Dr. Chol Thon for the Undersecretary, Ministry of Petroleum, and Engineer Mohammed Lino who has replaced Bernard Armour at the Nilepet. The new undersecretary is the worst of all former Nilepet MDs. He is filthy corrupt. Dr. Chol is known for dishing out bribes. When he was dismissed from the Nilepet, he left only USD 200 in the account.
Every month he gives to the President’s Security Advisor, Mr. Tut Kew, USD300,000. This money was given to Tut Kew without papers or official requests indicating the genuine reasons for the payments. Simply it is an act of sheer looting of the public coffers.
This is one of the reasons for the recent reshuffles in the Ministry of Finance and the Nilepet. With Bol Mel as the head and Dr. Chol Thon, Mohammed Lino, and Puot Kang, the IO Minister of Petroleum, the quartet of looters has been completed.
The quartet uses bribes and threats to silence vocal voices calling for transparency and good governance. The truth must be spelled out if South Sudan is not to drown in an abyss. Keeping silent in the face of tyranny is a perfect crime against the people of South Sudan.
Dr. Bol Mel is a ring leader of the criminal quartet. Because of his criminal activities, the South Sudan oil industry is on the verge of collapse.
Most of the Joint Operating Companies (JOCs) had stopped injecting cash into the oil industry’s investments. The Malaysian oil giant, PETRONAS has pulled out of the South Sudan oil industry. They have relocated to Kenya. Bol Mel has poisoned the investment climate in the country.
The PETRONAS pullout is a big blow to South Sudan’s economy. The consortium 40% shares in Dar Petroleum Operating (DPOC) Company, 30% in the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC), and 68% in SUDD Petroleum Operating Company (SPOC).
With PETRONAS pullout it is certain that Bol Mel desired to buy its share but failed. He has not given up, he is lobbying a Nigerian firm, Savannah Energy to buy the PETRONAS shares but the South Sudan government has disqualified the Nigerian firm for financial and technical incapacity.
The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank’s technical and financial reports noted that Nigeria lacks technical know-how and money to buy PETRONAS’s shares in the JOCs.
Bol Mel is using his networks, the new NILEPET MD, Mohammed Lino, Minister Puot Kang, and the undersecretary, Dr. Chol Thon, to force the government to give PETRONAS shares to Savannah albeit the Nigerian lacks money.
He is working to bring the country to its knees. He is eating the money of the armed forces. The BOSS of the feared National Security, General Akol Koor is toothless and powerless against the Special Advisor to the President. Sadly, President Salva is listening to his ill advice. The President will soon regret listening to Bol Mel’s advice.
