Youth minister Albino Bol indirectly calls cabinet minister ‘criminal’ over controversial remarks

JUBA – South Sudan’s Minister of Youth & Sports Albino Bol Dhieu has indirectly referred to the country’s cabinet minister Martin Elia Lomuro as a ‘criminal’ after the later referred to citizens opposing government river dredging initiative as ‘social media criminals’.

On June 30, Minister Lomuro who was speaking during the last funeral rite of late water resource minister Manawa Peter Gatkuoth lambasted citizens as social media criminals for criticizing the government in its project to dredge Nam River of weeds, saying the project was approved by the council of ministers.

The remarks by the senior government official sparked social media debates and controversies as to how government officials see citizens that they are supposed to be answerable to.

Youth minister Bol was among those who went on to comment on the remarks by Mr. Lomuro saying anyone calling citizens criminals for expressing their view on the matter is a criminal himself.

“Any talk about dredging, and anyone who tries to say, people who say dredging should not be done, they are criminals, he is the criminal,” he said.

“Why? Because this matter is concerning our country, it is concerning your future and that of the coming generations after 100 and 200 years, there is no joke about it,” he added.