Tong Akeen has expertly exploited the R-ARCSS to control Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Shortly before the formation of the state cabinet in 2020, he appointed executive directors for all the ministries that would be allocated to opposition groups. This weakened the opposition’s ability to control state ministries. Instead, opposition politicians were forced to choose between cooperating with Tong Akeen or finding themselves in a political wilderness. Opposition figures that try to carve out their own spheres of influence are liable to be dismissed, thanks to Tong Akeen’s influence in Juba. In January 2024, for instance, Kiir relieved two Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) ministers of their posts—both of whom had been vocal about corruption in Northern Bahr el Ghazal—and replaced them with more pliable candidates.[1]
Tong Akeen, who hails from a minor Malual Dinka clan, lacks popularity.[2] The state has traditionally been an SPLM stronghold, and he is seen as an NCP interloper from the north. In the 2010 elections, Tong Akeen stood as an NCP candidate for parliament; he failed not only to win his seat, but even to obtain the endorsement of the customary authorities of his own village. Like other governors in South Sudan (Small Arms Survey, 2023a; Pospisil, 2023), Tong Akeen has circumvented his acute lack of local legitimacy by building elite coalitions, arresting or killing dissenters, and using his financial control of the lucrative border trade to purchase loyalty.
Since becoming governor in 2020, Tong Akeen has allocated government sinecures to extend his political coalition. In March 2024, Tong Akeen made a number of appointments across state ministries. For instance, the key position of the director-general of the revenue authority was given to William Kur Makur—his cousin and a relative of Madut Biar Yel, the current national minister of telecommunications. Makur is also the SPLM youth chairperson for Northern Bahr el Ghazal, and was appointed with a view to the forthcoming elections. Diing Aher Ngong was made the commissioner of Aweil East—Northern Bahr el Ghazal’s most populous and politically important county. During the 2010 elections, Aher had harassed opposition members for the SPLM, and was likely recruited to perform the same job in December 2024.
Other crucial supporters of Tong Akeen include Stephen Ayaga, the SPLM secretary-general for the state, who had significant influence in Aweil Centre county, and Joseph Akok, a former member of the Sudanese paramilitary Popular Defence Forces (PDF), who functions as Tong Akeen’s enforcer.[3] The governor’s cousin, Andrea Lual Buola, is the state minister of finance, and has been accused by the anti-corruption commission in Northern Bahr el Ghazal of diverting state resources; the head of the commission was subsequently detained for making these accusations (Hawari, 2022; Radio Tamazuj, 2022). Tong Akeen has also built an alliance with the family of the late Gen. James Ajongo, who replaced Malong as the head of the SPLA and hailed from the most prominent Luo family in the state. It is through such alliance-building that Tong Akeen has consolidated control of Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
Most importantly, Tong Akeen has formed strong connections with the elite in Juba. In 2022, Tong Akeen signed a deal with African Resources Corporation (ARC), which permitted Wunkoc Engineering and Modern Contractors (ARC’s subcontracted partner) to level Awoda mountain in Aweil Centre county, and use the quarried stone to build Akhon International Airport in Kiir’s home village. ARC is owned by Benjamin Bol Mel, the Senior Presidential Envoy on Special Programs and the head of several US-sanctioned businesses involved in diverting oil funds and other state revenues (Craze, 2023). In return, Aweil Centre was promised a school, a health facility, and a borehole. As of May 2024, none of these development projects had been delivered. As a result, local protests blocked Wunkoc’s access to the quarry at Awoda. These protests have been defused, at least temporarily, but the saga indicates that for politicians like Tong Akeen, ingratiating oneself with Juba’s elite is more of a political priority than local accountability.
Tong Akeen has nevertheless also attempted to purchase popularity in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Prior to the outbreak of war in Sudan in 2023, he travelled to Khartoum each year to purchase grain that would be sold cheaply to poor families during the lean season. For Kiir’s presidential endorsement by the greater Bahr el Ghazal region, which took place in Wau in July 2023 (Small Arms Survey, 2023b), Tong Akeen mobilized approximately 10,000 people with the promise of incentives, such as cash, food, and accommodation. Rather than taking the direct road to Wau, the convoy passed through Akhon, next to the site of the new airport, in a display of support for the president. Such is Tong Akeen’s distribution of largesse that a new brand of biscuit, supposedly sufficient to keep one satiated for an entire day, has recently been nicknamed the ‘Tong Akeen’. The governor is simply the owner of the biggest biscuit in town.
[1] Riek Machar’s position in Juba, which is dependent on Kiir’s largesse, means that he is helpless to resist the president’s decisions about SPLM-IO ministerial appointments at the state level.
[2] The Malual Dinka constitute the overwhelming majority of the population of Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
[3] For more on the PDF, see Salmon (2007).
| < PREVIOUS | NEXT > |