Late Maker Thiong passed away on Wednesday morning, December 11, 2024 at a hospital in Juba where he has been receiving treatment for malaria - Courtesy

The body of Maker Thiong, former governor of Jonglei State, who passed away in Juba this week after a short illness, will be laid to rest in his hometown in Jonglei State.

He was 79-years-old.

According to Mayom Ateny, the Secretary-General of the Bor community, Thiong died on Wednesday morning, December 11, at a hospital in Juba where he had been receiving treatment for malaria.

His body was moved to the national parliament on Friday, December 13, for public viewing before being laid to rest in his hometown of We-Mill in Bor town, Jonglei State.

“Honourable Maker became sick for the last two weeks. We tried to move him to Nairobi but his situation could not allow us to move,” said Mayom.

“We wanted to take him to the hospital the pilot refused and he was brought back, I was taken to Gudele Hospital where he was there, hospitalized in ICU for four days and he passed on the 11th of this month December,” he stated.

“On the funeral arrangement, tomorrow honourable Maker will be taken to parliament, and then at the family level and community level,” he said.

“We have agreed to take his body to Wer-Mill, his village in Bor and this is where he will be buried, the preparations are ongoing tentatively. We believe by Sunday, we are likely going to take him to Bor.”

Mayom Ateny defined Maker as a hero who played a crucial role in the liberation struggle for the independence of South Sudan.

According to Mayom Ateny, the late honourable Maker Thiong was a teacher and freedom fighter on several front lines in Southern Sudan during liberation time from 1983 to 2025.

In 2005, he became a member of Sudan’s national assembly in Khartoum during the implementation of Comprehensive peace which led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011, when he became a member of the national parliament in Juba.