AWEIL — Youth of Aweil East County of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, have petitioned the county commissioner, Mawein Mawein Kuol, calling for the removal of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) coordinator, Akot Dut Athiang, over allegations of mismanagement and diversion of humanitarian assistance.
The petition letter signed by some paramount chiefs was presented by the youth to Aweil East County Commissioner Mawein Mawein Kuol on Monday.
The letter accused the RRC coordinator of undermining humanitarian aid delivery and diverting relief items meant for vulnerable families for personal benefit.
In their petition, the youth alleged that many families in genuine need of humanitarian aid were excluded from registration and that food, non-food items, and cash assistance were not reaching intended beneficiaries.
They further accused the coordinator and his associates of lacking transparency in the distribution of humanitarian assistance and alleged selling of relief items and beneficiary cards.
“Many vulnerable families who are genuinely in need of humanitarian assistance are reportedly being left out during the registration process,” read part of the petition letter.
“The community of Aweil East County has observed with deep concern that humanitarian assistance, including food, non-food items, or cash assistance support, has not reached intended beneficiaries as per humanitarian principles.”
The petitioner also accused the coordinator of selling a generator that they said had been donated to the community by a humanitarian organization.
The youth called on Commissioner Mawein to intervene and take action against what they described as practices harming vulnerable communities that depend on humanitarian assistance.
“He allegedly sells beneficiary cards and uses other beneficiaries to collect food assistance under false names, after which the aid is handed over to him in exchange for inducements,” the petition alleged.
For his, Akot Dut Athiang, Aweil East County Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), rejected the allegations, describing the petition as a witch-hunt intended to damage his reputation.
“These people are working to ill-wish me. As a matter of fact, we don’t do the selection of the beneficiaries; the NGOs do the random selection, as the enlisting of the beneficiaries has been abandoned for a long time,” Dut said.
“As some scenarios showed favoritism when enlisting or registering people in the villages, enumerators could mess up and favor people, so NGOs said they would be doing it by themselves, so we have been taken out of that.”
The coordinator, popularly known as Akot Mawic, described the petitioner as a “small group of people” who approached some chiefs with misinformation and persuaded them to sign the petition seeking his removal.
“Only 6 people came together and confused the chiefs, telling them wrong information about me and asking them to sign the letter so that it becomes authentic for my removal,” Dut said.
He accused Lazarus Anyar, the secretary of the Aweil East youth body, for mobilizing people against him.
“It is a work of an individual called Lazarus Anyar, who is the secretary for the Aweil East Youth body, and his member denies knowing this act he is involved in.”
He also denied selling the generator, saying it belonged to the RRC and had been provided by the local organization ACDF for use during training activities in Malualkon.
“Regarding the generator that I sold away, it is untrue; it was given by ACDF, the local NGO in the area, and they do conduct some training in Malualkon using it, and it belongs to the RRC, not the youth.”
On the allegation that an office previously occupied by IOM had been sold or rented out, Dut said the land belonged to a private individual and that the RRC had no authority over it.
Dut threatened to take legal action against those making the allegations if they failed to provide evidence to support their claims.
