Ex-opposition commissioner of Aweil West arrested over SSP8 million debt  

JUBA – The former opposition Aweil West Commissioner in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state has been arrested by state authorities after failure to return a loan of 8 million South Sudanese pounds, local media report quoting officials in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.

Stephen Wieu Guot was appointed as Aweil West County Commissioner in February by President Salva Kiir Mayardit upon nomination by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny who is also the chairman of the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO).

He was removed in June by President Kiir and later on claimed that his removal as county commissioner was ‘politically-motivated’ and has since been on social media for publicly disagreeing with Northern Bahr el Ghazal state governor Tong Aken Ngor who he accused of targeting opposition members there.

Guot Guot, the spokesman of the police in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state said, according to Talk of Juba, said Wieu was arrested last week after an unnamed citizen opened a court case against him for failure to repay the loan.

For his part, Wieu denied that he used the money for his personal expenditure but to organize for arrival of opposition county officials to Nyamlel, the Aweil West County headquarters and said the SPLM-IO under Machar should repay the loan.

‘’I borrowed the money during my appointment as a commissioner of Aweil West in order to transport the county officials to the headquarters, Nyamlel, and it was not for my personal use’’ Stephen Wieu said, according to Talk of Juba.