June 19, 2022 — South Sudan’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hon. Manawa Peter Gatkuoth Gual, died this morning in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
According to family members, Hon. Manawa Gatkuoth passed on this morning in Cairo where he was rushed to on Friday to seek immediate medical attention.
“He was flown to Egypt on Friday at 3:00pm after he experienced chest pain that started on Thursday morning,” a close family member said.
Although unclear, the ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation also confirmed the news.
Speaking to media on Friday, South Sudan government spokesman and Minister of Information, Hon. Michael Makuei, confirmed that Hon. Manawa was immediately evacuated to seek medical attention outside the country, saying he was “seriously ill”.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj this morning, Hon. Michael Makuei confirmed Manawa’s death attributing his death to a “heart disease”.
“The cause of death remains unclear. But the late was suffering from heart disease. He was admitted to a hospital for two days here in Juba, but he was evacuated to Egypt on Friday for further treatment,” he said.
“It is a great loss to the whole country,” Makuei added.
According to insiders, Hon. Manawa Peter Gatkuoth felt sick on the day he was summoned by the cabinet ministers over the dredging of rivers without the consent of the cabinet.
Hon. Manawa became a National Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation through the SPLM/A-IO ticket in 2020; however, he has been closely involved over water resources with the Egyptian government leading to bilateral understanding to dredge rivers and also to resume Jonglei Canal project.
Although the office of the president and cabinet denied consenting to the dredging of rivers, Hon. Manawa insisted that dredging of rivers was a normal exercise that should be routinely done.
For the last 4 weeks the idea of dredging rivers has been bitterly opposed by politicians and intellectuals from Jonglei State including the vice chancellor of Juba University who speculates that dredging of river was a national security threat and national security should intervene.
At the time of this writing the government of Egypt was yet to confirm or comment on the death of Hon. Manawa and what might have caused it.
This is a breaking news and more updates shall follow.
