It’s do or die for Chol Deng at Nilepet

<strong>It’s do or die for Chol Deng at Nilepet</strong>

President Salva Kiir reappointed Eng. Chol Deng to head the Nile Petroleum Company (Nilepet) in a Decree on Friday evening, giving the latter another opportunity after a year of joblessness since September 2020.

While the announcement came unprecedented but buried succession speculations; for Eng. Deng, this may not be an easy task. It would perhaps call for a paradigmatic shift in smashing the deliverables and turning things around at the oil giant which has so far suffered a tainted corporate reputation.

Deng who headed the company for nearly four years since 2017 will have a huge task to perform in the sector this time around.

What lies ahead?

Fighting corruption in all forms will be expected to top his priority given that at the moment the country aims toward full-fledged reform in all its institutions.

He has to use this chance again to clear the past and showcase the true picture of his current and future leadership in citizens where most of its people are in dire need of service delivery in conformity with the provisions of the revitalised peace agreement. 

“One of the main areas of improvement is to show the nation and leadership of the country that his return to the institution is to promote transparency and accountability,” said Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO).

Nilepet—a state-owned oil company established in 2009 before the country’s independence—has continued to earn public contempt for alleged corruption, nepotism, financial misappropriation over the past years.

 In March this year, an American corruption watchdog, the Sentry, published a damning report implicating oil companies including Nilepet in misappropriation of revenues that should have been used to deliver services to the citizens. 

While requested for auditing for accountability and transparency purposes, the Sentry purported in the report that the oil companies became hesitant to open up the door for the activity.

The auditor general of the South Sudan National Audit Chamber, Stephen Wondu, revealed in May this year that Nilepet has been requested to avail its report on several occasions but in vain. 

Frustrated by the refusal to be subjected to auditing, Mr Wondu threatened Nilepet management saying: “They have not submitted their reports and my job is to request them to give me the reports and if they don’t give me the reports, I go to the higher authority which is the parliament.”

According to CEPO—Eng. Deng who was relieved on September 16, 2020, on accusations of malpractices and replaced by his predecessor, Eng. Bol Ring sacked two weeks ago—will also be expected to set the company’s image right globally.

“Because he has been there before, he has been accused of malpractices so it is the high time for him to prove to the nation and the leadership that he is not corrupt and that he is there to ensure that the institution generates the revenue to the country because that is the revenue-generating institution,” urged Yakani.

Other priorities, including implementation of the new human resource manual, environmental factors, and nepotism await Eng. Deng to effect in the Nilepet perhaps to prove and convince the public and the world his leadership this time.  

“He should demonstrate this time that he affects the reforms needed because he has been there before. This is the second for him and it is up to him to show the nation that he will affect the reform,” said Yakani. 

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