Emmanuel Athiei Ayual, Managing Director of NilPet.
Photo: PPU
The Managing Director of Nilepet has called on employees to support President Salva Kiir and the SPLM ahead of the elections and said fuel is being prepared to support his campaign, despite a ban on using state institutions and public resources to benefit political candidates.
Emmanuel Athiei Ayual made the remarks on Wednesday while inspecting fuel depots and stations in Juba, just a day after President Kiir dissolved the transitional government and issued directives requiring officials serving during the caretaker period to remain politically impartial.
Ayual said NilePet, as the commercial arm of the government in the petroleum sector, is procuring and stocking enough fuel to support the president and his SPLM party for elections.
He then explicitly linked the company’s role to the electoral success of the SPLM.
“As Nile Petroleum Corporation, we are the commercial wing of the government, to the Ministry of Petroleum. And as mandated by the government, we have to procure enough fuel and we have to stock it so that we can support the elections. We need the SPLM party to win at the moment. The SPLM must be supported by all means, whether it is Nile Petroleum Corporation or any other institution that is relevant to the winning, to the government, and to our president,” he announced.
Ayual went further, calling on NilePet employees to rally behind President Kiir and campaign for his re-election.
“As your leader, as the managing director and CEO of this institution, I request all our staff that we must rally behind the president and his leadership so that he wins this upcoming election,” he said.
What the presidential order says
Ayual’s remarks come against the backdrop of a Presidential Decree issued on Tuesday following the dissolution of the transitional government.
The decree requires all officials serving under the caretaker arrangement to act impartially and specifically prohibits them from using public office, public resources or government institutions to promote or disadvantage any political party, candidate or electoral contestant.
“All officials serving under the care taker period shall act impartially and shall not use public office, public resources, or government institution to promote or disadvantage any political party, candidate, or electoral contestant,” the decree states.
It also says officials serving during the caretaker period shall not contest for relevant elective positions.
The timing places Ayual’s statement under scrutiny because his declaration explicitly calls for NilePet, the national oil company, to support the SPLM’s electoral victory, while the President’s own caretaker directive requires government officials to remain politically neutral and bars the use of public resources or government institutions for partisan electoral purposes.
NilePet’s mandate
Section 13 of the Petroleum Act 2012 establishes the National Petroleum and Gas Corporation to participate in upstream, midstream and downstream petroleum activities “on behalf of the Government.”
The Act further requires the corporation to undertake petroleum activities in accordance with the law and states that it shall act as a commercial entity and safeguard the national interest in petroleum activities.
The law therefore distinguishes the corporation’s role as a national commercial entity acting on behalf of the Government from the interests of a particular political party.
The question now arising from Ayual’s statement is whether using NilePet’s institutional resources to support the SPLM and President Kiir is consistent with that statutory mandate and the caretaker government’s requirement for political impartiality.
Ayual did not explain what legal authority permits NilePet’s resources or institutional machinery to be used for partisan electoral support.
He also did not clarify whether the planned procurement and stockpiling of fuel for the elections is a general national fuel-supply responsibility applicable regardless of political affiliation, or whether it is intended to benefit the SPLM’s electoral campaign.
The declaration also raises questions about the role of NilePet employees. Ayual described support for President Kiir as an individual responsibility that staff should extend to their families and relatives across the states.
NilePet was established as the national petroleum company to participate in petroleum activities on behalf of the Government. Section 13(4) of the Petroleum Act states that all shares of the corporation are held by the Government on behalf of the Republic, while Section 13(5) requires it to act commercially and safeguard the national interest in petroleum activities.
Against that legal and political backdrop, the Managing Director’s public call for the corporation and its employees to support a political party and presidential candidate raises questions about the separation between state resources, a state-owned commercial institution and partisan electoral activity.
NilePet has not, in the remarks cited above, explained how its declared support for the SPLM and President Kiir complies with the caretaker administration’s neutrality directive.
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