Maban Commissioner Peter Alberto. (-)

Maban County Commissioner in Upper Nile State denied accusations that he engaged in malpractices after dozens of people staged a peaceful demonstration on Monday calling for his removal from office.
Some residents of Maban County accused the commissioner of selling vehicles allocated to public offices and heavily taxing traders.

During the match organized on Monday, the Chairperson of Maban Youth Union, James Daud, alleged that different community committees are frustrated over the alleged sale of public vehicles by the commissioner.

But Commissioner Peter Alberto denied the accusations that he confiscated community vehicles, asserting that the vehicles remain with those leaders.

“I did not take any vehicles from them; that is not true. Their vehicles are with them, and I was the one who gave them the vehicles last year, and this year, no one has taken anything,” he said in an interview with Eye Radio.

Instead, Mr. Alberto accused the community leaders of extorting humanitarian organizations and believes they staged the demonstration only to protest their removal.

“It is only that they don’t want to be removed from their position, so you can even inquire from different sources, which will give you the true story, that what they are saying is not true.”

“My message is that this county is a refugee-hosting county. People must work according to the law. Nobody can take the law into his/her hands. because we have a standard to follow. Anybody can take the law, but if he/she has a claim to make, you must go according to the law.”

Commissioner Alberto confirmed that he dissolved the community groups after receiving reports that community leaders, including the paramount chief, youth leader, and women’s union, have been taking resources from NGOs without legal justification.

The commissioner said individuals within the community groups were illegally enriching themselves by misusing the community’s name to take assets from NGOs in Maban.

“It has been like this for a very long time, that the community always, especially the paramount chief, the youth leader, plus the women’s union, goes to the premises of the NGO’s and takes things without any illegal ground.”

“We felt that they are not working with the system the government wants, and all the reports came to my office from the NGO’s, the UN agencies, and the community that these people are enriching themselves illegally.”

“They are using the name of the community to take cars from the compound of the NGO’s that live in Maban, and that is why they are not working according to the law, so I decided to dissolve their office.”

Meanwhile, Maban Youth Union Chairperson James Daud, in an interview with Eye Radio on Tuesday, said the leaders, youth, and women groups sought to discuss the issue with the Commissioner and requested a meeting for clarification on the vehicle sales.

Mr. Daud claimed that instead of addressing their concerns, Commissioner Peter Roberto dissolved various community committees, leading to tension in the area.

“We had a peaceful demonstration against the commissioner, and we have so many reasons, one of which is that the commissioner sold out the public vehicles for the government, including the pickup; he only left his car.”

“So we community leaders, youth, and women’s union, sat and discussed and agreed to have a meeting with the commissioner. We wrote to him when he was in Juba, and instead of resolving this issue, he dissolved the youth committee, women’s committee, and traditional leaders.”

Mr. Daud decried challenges in local governance and calls for effective communication between officials and the community to resolve issues.

He also accused the commissioner of seizing a substantial amount of money and goods from traders, including 27 barrels of fuel from one trader and 24 grams of gold from others.

According to him, this has led to increased commodity prices, negatively affecting the community’s economic situation.

“The other reason is that he (the commissioner) started having an assessment in the market; if he gets a trader keeping money inside the shop, in terms of the commodity, he starts taking a quarter of that money,” Daud claimed.