This man, Peter Mayen Majongdit

JUBA – Peter Mayen is a renowned personality in the South Sudanese political scene. For those who know him, he is a person who courts controversies but at the same time remains true to himself and unapologetic to his critics.

Although Mayen became the talk of social media when he began battling party wars after members of Other Political Parties (OPP) unanimously propagated his ouster, his political acumen and the rise to the table of the elite remains a breathtaking story.

But just, who is the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Peter Mayen Majongdit?

At the time South Sudan was dipped in distressing civil wars in 2013, a weekly newspaper known as The Independent made its way to the hands of South Sudanese. That paper had an Editor-in-Chief in Mr. Mayen and it circulated in the market up to 2014 before going off.

In February 2015, Mayen and two other individuals would join efforts to start funding the People’s Liberal Party (PLP) to make headway into the unforgiving world of politics where the members nominated him as the interim chairman of the party.

He joined the ranks of the opposition leaders and critiqued the government at the time when the conflict in the country was in the 16^th month.

It would be remembered that Mayen was vocal against the extension of terms of the presidency and those of other government officials.

He at one time published a commentary in the Juba Monitor newspaper, challenging the government to recover $4 billion that was allegedly stolen by senior politicians.

Days after, Mayen was taken from his home by unidentified men and detained for two days after which he was released without charges.

He then made a further statement urging the government to recover funds to plug in a hole in the budget rather than taking loans.

Mayen spoke after the parliament authorized the Minister of Finance to negotiate a loan worth $500 million with Qatar National Bank.

According to the government, the funds were needed to close a budget gap created by the falling price of crude oil and a steep decline in domestic oil production caused by months of domestic conflict.

Mayen would then join the Revitalised Peace Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) after teaming up with other like-minded parties.

In 2019, a storm fell on the minister after he was accused of a sex scandal at Dembesh Hotel by some members of his umbrella party, the OPP.

Another storm would brew in his home as OPP members further alleged that he was working in isolation and demanded his removal from the Pre-transitional period Committee. But he survived and was even rewarded with a plum position of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management during the establishment of the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU).

Battles with OPP

In March 2021, the minister was accused by the Juba International Airport authorities of trying to board a Nairobi-bound plane despite failing to abide by the COVID-19 travel restrictions.

He was reported to have resorted to road transport but upon speaking to the City Review, he denied the reports and was categorical that he never traveled to Nairobi.

Mr. Mayen would then be accused in April 2021, this time by activists who alleged that the minister violently stormed Aweil Football Club and forcefully ejected his wife who plays for Aweil women’s football team.

The former OPP Chairman was accused of shooting in the air and disrupting the match, an allegation he denied. According to him, he had gone to pick his wife Aluel Garang to take care of their young child and did not do so violently.

‘‘Most of them (allegations) are cooked. I did not fire a gun. I did not have a gun. I was there in the field and I have the right as a family man to ask for my wife’s substitution.

‘‘The media and the public should not force me that I should [allow] my wife who has a two-month baby to play a serious football match. I think this is impossible, I don’t know what people want,’’ the minister told the City Review in April.

He set the record straight and distanced himself from the ‘controversial’ tag that he said gives him a negative impression in the eyes of the people.

In May 2021, his OPP party would face another nomination row as other parties refused to endorse the list citing bias.

The saga would drag up to the doorstep of the appointing authority, President Salva Kiir, who returned the list to allow the parties to come to a consensus.

But in the interlude of ironing out the party differences, which have so far remained unresolved, the minister met another setback with accusations of domestic violence; stabbing his wife.

The two scenarios would then formulate a ground through which PLP and OPP members resolved to kick him out both as a party leader and a member.

“We hereby inform our members, supporters, the government, non-governmental organization, the IGAD and stakeholders to the R-ARCSS that we, the National Leadership Committee of the People’s Liberal Party do herby revoke and terminate the membership of Peter Mayen as the interim leader of PLP,” PLP said in a statement as OPP communicated a similar declaration.

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