Government officials in solidarity with Dr. Lomuro

Government officials have vowed support for the embattled Minister of Cabinet Affairs Dr Martin Elia Lomuro saying his (Lomuro) accusers need to be challenged lest they extend to other officials.

The leaders were categorical that sanctions imposed on the minister do not concern him as an individual but it is an issue that the South Sudanese should take seriously and condemn.

Speaking at a Saturday event where Dr Lomuro celebrated a recent victory in the Kenyan court, Warrap State Governor Aleu Ayieng Aleu said the leadership of South Sudan will support Lomuro throughout his court case with the Kenyan and US governments.

“We are going to court Martin and we are telling you from today onwards, we need to open a case [against] who was behind this problem. If they are the Americans we want to go to court against the Americans and if it is the Kenyan government; we are going to court against the Kenyan government because tomorrow they will take Tut Kewu, they will take me and him,” said Aleu.

Dr Lomuro had revealed that he was moving to the International Court of Justice to challenge sanctions imposed on him by the US government over accusations of aiding conflicts.

According to Governor Aleu, some South Sudanese government officials who have rebelled against the government are responsible for the massive stealing of the public funds and they reside in Nairobi, Kenya.

“I one time met with the Masaya Minister of interior Olonku I went to his office and he was telling me that he was given a mission to find out the accounts of South Sudanese who stay in Nairobi. [He told that] he found that the money [that] one of those people have can feed Nairobi for six months and he was arrested and up to now he is still there in Nairobi,” he alleged.

“That money is still in the banks of Kenya and there are so many of them and I know them,” he added.

Central Equatoria State Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony described Lomuro as a victim of money laundering and US sanctions because of his “fight for the interest of the government of South Sudan’’.

“Indeed it is this occasion that we are to send one message to the international community that as the people of South Sudan, we are peace-loving, one people who respect the rule of law but if you tamper with our interest sometimes we can show what we are,” Adil warned.

However, the Minister of Environment and Forestry Josephine Napwon Cosmos said Martin Elia was targeted because he is the engine of the government.

“Not only because Martin is next to the president but it is also because Martin is the engine of the government the minister of cabinet affairs; it is not a joke,” Napwon stressed.

“I want to thank God for allowing us the people of South Sudan to win the case, this is [not] the problem of Martin, it is about us the people of South Sudan; it is about us the leaders of South Sudan being targeted,” she added.

She also accused South Sudanese of contributing to the sanction of Lomouro and the money laundering accusation which was levelled against him by the Kenya Asset Recover Agency.

“Let us not be supervised. The problem facing Martin [was created by] the South Sudanese who [after doing that then they] ran to Kenya. It is not from another place because our hatred is beyond” she warned.

Napwon urged South Sudanese to desist from abusing people who are sanctioned in the country and instead support them to overcome their challenges. “Imagine how can you be attacked by a foreign country and we also attack our own person. Why didn’t we stand with him (Martin)? why didn’t we think of his family and the future of his children and why do we go to the media and abuse him for no reason just because you don’t have what he has and be jealous and abuse him unnecessarily?” Napwon questioned South Sudanese.