Opinion: Scandalous Corruption That Led To Demotion of Brig. Gen. Simon Bangoang From Machar’s Office

THE SCANDALOUS CORRUPTION COMMITTED, LED TO DEMOTION AND FATE OF SIMON BANGO’ANG TUONG FROM
THE OFFICE OF DR. RIEK MACHAR TENYDHURGON.

By Ruot George Wal Mut.

Brigadier General Simon Bangoag Toang(center) with the rest of his colleagues, the bodyguards of Dr. Riek Machar (Photo credit: supplied)

April 21, 2020(SSNN) — This is an official response to Brig. Simon Bangoang Badeeng Tuong following his response to my first article.The next article focuses on those who are helping him to steal SPLM/A(IO) money.  Currently he, ‘Bangoang’, has resorted to physical confrontation but I will continue to use my pen and paper to follow up with him.

Corruption Scandal in the office of H.E Dr. Riek Machar Tenydhurgon by Brig. Gen. Simon Bangoang Tuong.

A Nuer proverb says, “Min penji Nien Tok Thare Jin” loosely translates as “what make you not to sleep is of your own making”.

In light of the above proverb, I would like to write a piece of article in response to small note I came across on social media written by Brigadier General Simon Bangoang Tuong on a community power based whatsapp-group that he helped to create to mastermind his personal interests, he wrote a statement on his Sudan number +249910015229 dated 11th / April /2020 at 11:10pm and I quote….“ I thought he could be the first to recognized my contribution toward his family, in 2014 despite the challenges we’re facing I managed to transport the body of his brother, the late Bichiok Puok from Nairobi to Leer with charter plane.” the WhatsApp group is named “Juong Community SPLM – IO Forum” a statement he altered to a member of SPLM – IO official who was supporting Machar’s move of replacing Gen. Bangoang from financial mismanagement in his office.

Well the above statement ignited hatred debate on all fronts of social media including WhatsApp groups, Facebook forums and others social media handles because it’s a taboo in many African cultures including the Nuer to attack ancestors. Many attentions where caught on social media including mine and I decided to take my pen and paper to investigate and come forward with this article viz.

Some people might wonder why I attacked him on my Facebook account – yet we don’t belong together, the reason is one, the name of the person he cited on his writting is of my ‘father in-law,’ the late was the commissioner of police in Yambio, Bentiu, Bor and Juba before the crisis in December 2013, the late was a brave senior political, military general and a man few words. the late decided to join the movement in December 2013 as a results of government decision to killed civilians in an house to house discriminated killing of a single ethnic group – the Nuer.

We did everything we could at the family level to keep him alive but God is always final in decision, he passed on in April 2015 in Nairobi infront of ten members of the family including his wife, his brother and children including my wife were present “ May his Soul continue to rest in Peace” because he is not respected by this man who has decided to boss around claiming to be rich forgetting that it’s collectives efforts that keep him near Dr. Riek Machar, here is what my father in law [James Bichiok Pouk] would say about Bangoang Badeeng Tuong if he was alive, First I would highlight who is this Simon Bangoang Tuong his personal details in relations to a claim by one of his relative [Jimpetro Buom] on a face book comment that they are from royal family background.

Well, Simon Bangoang Tuong was born in Leer, from a family which was known for persistence poverty, his real father name is Badeeng Tuong Buoy Baluony who was deaf and later dies during the 1988 famine after lack of family care because there was nothing at home, not even a single cow to feed the family with milk.
Bangoang himself was in Leer town and in early 1990s; he fled to Kakuma refugee camp after SPLA introduced forced recruitment into its rank to energize its strength on their war for independent, refusing to take part in the military service.

While in Kakuma, he was admitted to Kakuma Mixe Primary school where tried Kenyan Primary school examination for two consecutive years unsuccessfully, he then went to Nairobi and registered at Zimmament High School without presenting his primary certificate, he claimed that he came from Sudan and did not have the primary school certificate because Khartoum was not issuing certificates to Southerners before serving in the military service. A claim Kenyan where very much concern with and he was admitted immediately. He dropped out after one year and became a jack of all trade in Nairobi but a master of none, school mates and the two schools can testify on any of this information given above. Because life was hard he did not manage to get a wife, he decided to grab Monica Nyabol Kong Wieh who was taken to Nairobi by her husband [Gatleekni Lul Gatwiech] who she abundant after they had their two children

HOW SIMON BANGOANG TUONG, GOT INTO Dr. MACHAR’S Office.

He first started admiring Dr. Riek Machar Back in Leer in the year 2003 when he [Machar] toured Unity State with large convoy of military and civilians leaders, Bangoang said and I quote “one day I will work in the office of Dr, Riek Machar” while in Nairobi, after facing difficulty in paying rental fee for his shared apartment, Bangoang relocated to the resident of Dr. Riek Machar in Keleshua suburb of Nairobi, he lived there and once Machar move to Kenya for either family or official visits, the whole family could dinned on the same table with their father, Machar could at some extern asked out of curiosity who the new family member was. He introduced himself as an individual who want to continue his education but has no ability to pay rental fee alone but in reality, he was not in school and no one among the family want to reveal this to Machar because he was a very good servant.

He was unconditionally accepted to live as part of the Royal family and was later assigned by Dr. Machar to take charge of feeding Machars’ two Dogs which he secretly sold out to Kenyan in Nairobi, in the duration of school, all children get to school in Nairobi and almost for three or four months while all children are in school, the family of Dr. Machar entrusted him with all others domestic activities including stocking the family stores with food items, clearing of electric bills, water bills and arranging for a taxi fare for bringing home of children during closing of school term.

He came to Juba in 2012 and was working as communal worker in one of the company in Mangateen area of Juba, he volunteered to monitor social media allegations and public media outlets that published any article about Dr. Riek Machar, he could print them periodically and take the copies to Machar in exchange of Emotional Bank Account, I mean to make Machar feel happy that he has a strong boy by his side.

In 2013, the crisis started and he managed to get to Nairobi Kenya. While in Nairobi a trader whose identity will remain unravel here for security reason gave Simon Bangoang Toung an amount of 20,000 usd [Twenty thousand United States Dollars] to support Machar with airtime for his Thuraya, buys more satellite phones and send enough airtime to coordinate activities with Machar. Simon Bangoang managed to buy 7 seven satellite phones and airtime each Thuraya cost 600 USD [only six hundred Dollars] and each was loaded 20 dollars credit units accept Machar’s which was much busies was loaded 100 dollars monthly. And during the Pagak conference one [1] which led to formal establishment of the SPLM – IO, Simon Bangoang was given another 10,000 USD [ten thousand Dollars] another well wisher helped him facilitate the travels of members of the movement to and from Fagak in 2014.

It’s worth mentioning that Simon Bangoang paid for a charter plane in Ganyliel to extract Gen. Alfred Lado Gore, the then deputy chairman of SPLM – IO to Adis – Ababa after his arrival to Panyijiar on foot from Juba.
All the above earned him countless appreciation from those he supported with transportation because they were stranded and the senior political and military supporters of Dr. Riek Machar were absolutely happy with him. All of whom pushed Machar to reward him with Military rank in 2015 for the first time in the history of his life.

He was given a rank of 1st Lt. He promoted himself to the rank of Brig. Gen after 2016 in South Africa when the military command of the army sent the list of soldiers to be promoted. He inserted his name into the list as the 3rd individual in the list of soldiers to be promoted into the rank of Brigadier general. This created a lot of complain among the army in the SPLA – IO.

He naturally replaced the whole mobile office in the bushes but was not officially appointed because of the nature of hostilities by then. When Machar was extracted in the thick forests of the DR. Congo by the former secretary general of the United Nations [Ban Ki – Moon] to Khartoum, he was taken in the same plane with Machar. He was also relocated to South Africa with Dr. Machar on the request of Intergovernmental Authority on Development – IGAD when Machar was detained.

To the dismay of the Movement leadership and supporters, he was reportedly selling to South African all electronics brought to Machar by diplomats and well wishers who visited him in the South African detention center. Dr. Machar was relocated to the region [East Africa] on the request of Ethiopian Dr. Abiy Ahmed for a face to face meeting with president Kiir to resolve the South Sudan renewed crisis after the collapsed of the previous peace accord, the August 2015 earlier ARCSS [Agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan]. This led to the renegotiation and the subsequent formation of the high level revitalization forum which culminated to the signing of the new peace accord in September 2018, this time called R – ARCSS [Revitalized Agreement on the resolution of the conflict in the republic of South Sudan], Bangoang was boarding every single plane that was meant for Dr. Machar including the plane that was chartered to the Vatican city in Rome [Italy] in April 2019.

COMPLAINS BY GENERALS, CIVILIANS AND THE POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OF SPLM – IO AGAINST BRIG. GEN. SIMON BANGO’ANG TUONG.

While majority of the SPLM-IO leaders complains are numerous, the most pressing one are around the issues of treatment money meant for wounded soldiers and civilians who requested financial assistances, military generals complain that he was blocking them from visiting their chairman, in one incident in 2018 and 2019 in particular, he as the chief protocol officer blocked Andrea Kuong Ruach Jany, who came from London in United Kingdom for a meeting with his boss in Khartoum for political strategies, Kuong is an advisor for political affairs, he had to return to UK after three weeks unsuccessful mission to his boss Dr. Machar in Khartoum. In another Incident in 2019, Bangoang blocked a Military Gen. who was assigned for field operation in Nasir by the SPLM – IO, Gen Peter Magok Bol who was from Nasir field operations.

The general was furious of him and Machar’s attention was attracted which led him to come out in person to take with him [gen] into his office and Machar apologized to the general for Bangoang mistake. Gen. Nhial Bol Thak was given medical fees by SPLM – IO chairman, Bangoang refused to clear this too.

Many other issues that Bangoang did include the corruption scandal surrounding medical bills clearance of the hospital in Khartoum. Number of SPLM – IO generals losed their lives after diversion of their medical fees into Bangoang personal businesses.

Some of those who die due to negligent from intentional corruption include Brig. Gen. Mathiang Koang Tut Pouch who died in the hospital in Kampala a day later after his medical fee was used by his colleague Brig. Gen. Simon Bangoang to buy a ticket to transport his wife from Juba to Khartoum, part of the medical fee was used to transport his brother in – law to Nairobi to go and take care of his family in the duration of the absent of his wife. Ugandan Doctors refused to treat Gen. Mathiang Koang and he died later after one day “ May his Soul continue to rest in Peace” another scenario was the death of Sultan Ding-Ding Kuol Kulang Ket, who died in Khartoum after Bangoang failure to released his money for treatment despite earlier approval by Dr. Machar. Gen. Sadam Chayut Manyang Wuor also died for related reason in Khartoum.

Bangoang married his second wife at the end of 2019 using SPLM – IO money amounting to 4,000,000ssp [only four million South Sudanese Pound] In the scandal surrounding the payment for the traders who supplied SPLM – IO soldiers in the cantonments and training sites, the senior political and military command of the SPLM – IO under the supervision of the deputy chairman of SPLM –IO Hennery D. Odwar approved payment for traders who supplied their cantonment and training sites, Bangoang paid up to 8 individuals who are his close relatives including his elder brother Theng Badeeng Tuong Buoy Baluony who is currently in Bentiu and the other seven individuals gave him back the money which he is building a 250 matrices tones engine size of business class boat. each of the eight bogus traders were paid up to 40,000 USD.

A trader who truly supplied the SPLM –IO cantonment and training sites called James Beker was arrested and is still in detention after falling into heavy debt for supplying SPLM – IO Equatoria cantonment sites and was later on not paid by the SPLM – IO. He is currently [20 April 2020] in detention at Juba Central prison because he could not manage to clear the debts
Many other Generals of SPLM – IO and politicians continue to struggle with life in Khartoum, they struggle with accommodations’ challenges when in 2018, a friend or well wisher of Dr. Riek Machar IO movement purchase two[2] storey buildings in one of the residential area called Heile Hussein suburb in Khartoum along Hawa road of which many SPLM – IO generals and supporters in Khartoum believes that the buildings belong to Bangoang Personal business when in fact they were bought to accommodates generals and their families or wounded soldiers from difference frontlines.

Hon. Mabior Garang De-Mabior, after his appointment into the position of deputy minister of Interior was issued with 20 tickets with Kenya Airways but because the money was not released by Bangoang despite earlier approval from office of the chairman, the team from Nairobi did not come. Mabior alone came after purchasing his own ticket for his own money, 20 rooms where also booked and given for the supposed delegates who did not come but Bangoang is renting them out to other people for cash returns directly to him through his secret and private booking agent boys, one of them in the scandalous act is (Kun Tut Kuotgor) coordinating Bangoang’s outside deals in the name of NPTC arrangements, Kun Tut is currently self-imposed bodyguard without professional training, in the office of the new Minister of Petroleum, Hon.Puot Kang Chol doing same thing exactly as Bangoang. As I publish this article, Mabior Garang returned to Nairobi out of frastruation immediately after he was told to stay in the quarantine for 14 days and plus the corruption observed.

Civilians complain that they are never allow to access Riek Machar even for good reason and Bangoang always eat their money once they are given transportation reimbursement by Dr. Machar especially after his swearing into the office as the country’s first vice president in February 2020. In one scenario of his ambition of empowering his community political power base [Juong Community SPLM – IO] which he helped creates to cause chaos, Bangoang was caught red handed altering a statement “am here serving the interest of Cie-Baluony and you must always support me” a group which was known to outsiders after Bangoang wrote his piece of article attacking the late Bichiok Pouk, Cie-Baluony is a sub-clan in Leer county of Unity state, this sub-clan is known for good reasons but he want to use the clans name to protect his personal interests which I must tell you is not true.

With all the above the field commanders and the all units of SPLM – IO fronts put him on watch list to answer for all his deeds, the other thing they should do is to confiscates all the SPLM – IO assets that are now believes to be at his hand as personal properties including the two building in Khartoum.

So in light of the above Dr. Riek Machar decided to relieve him of his duties in his office and this made him to lost sense and made him to use physical confrontation with me on 17th/4/2020 after my comment on my facebook page critical of him. he decided to attacked me at the premises of the ministry of Peace Building when he found me attending an important meeting, Most of the figures of all the financial details are with me and anyone who wants further investigation of his scandal should get the details from me.

Thank you

The author, Ruot George, is a journalist. He has worked for many media houses in South Sudan including Nyamilepedia, Eye Radio, Bentiu Radio FM 99 and Medium waves 558 KHz. For more information on this opinion piece, you can reach the author at mutgeorge8@gmail.com 

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