Day: November 9, 2021

Civil servants in the Jonglei State capital, Bor town have rejected the recent appointment of director-generals to the state ministries, dismissing the move as unconstitutional.

The civil servants’ reaction comes barely days after the new officials were appointed as an attempt to resolve the standoff with the state governor failed.

A week ago, Governor Denay Jock Chagor made a reshuffle, appointing director-generals (DGs) to the 17 cabinet ministries in the state.

The deputy head of the body representing civil servants, the Jonglei Trade and Workers’ Union Mading Mamer told Radio Tamazuj on Friday that his boss’s move violates the constitution, expressing anxiety that government operation could be curtailed.

“Of these 17 new DGs, 13 did not previously serve in any government positions. Our concern is that before Jonglei was split into four states, senior civil servants went with the defunct states. Why not bring them back?” Madding asked.

He added, “According to the labor law, civil servants are not appointed by decrees. This will affect the delivery of services. The government should have instead formed a committee to oversee the amalgamation of workers from the defunct states; it would have been that body to recommend a DG to be appointed to the cabinet.”

The local official called on the national government to intervene, saying, “On Monday (last week), our meeting with the governor was futile. So, we are calling on the national government to address this issue.”

Another civil servant who preferred to remain anonymous blamed the governor’s move on the lack of teamwork with the government and that a constitutional crisis has been created.

Governor Denay declined to comment but his information minister and the government spokesperson Veronica William applauded the new appointment.

“The appointment of these DGs to all the 17 ministries was done by the governor; it is his work. So, no one could question that,” she said.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The Sudan People’s Liberation Army-In Opposition (SPLA-IO) in Western Bahr el Ghazal State on Sunday handed over three government vehicles they confiscated last month from a government team in Baggari.

Last Wednesday, an SPLA-IO committee from the capital, Juba arrived in Wau and traveled to Baggari on Saturday to bring the vehicles.

Speaking during the handover on Sunday evening at the state council of ministers’ premises, the state deputy governor Zackaria Joseph Garang welcomed the move.

“They have brought back the three cars as we are seeing behind us. We are happy with the committee for their efforts and also the CTSAMVM for their strong efforts of coordination between us and the leadership of IO presence in Baggari,” he said.

Garang said the effort demonstrates goodwill in implementing the peace agreement.

“We want to understand that the state government is implementing the peace agreement and this requires us to maintain a good relationship and this is a good gesture,” he said. “Let us not compromise anyone who is trying to disrupt the implementation of the peace accord.”

On his part, General Daniel Koang Chol, who led the SPLA-IO committee confirmed the handing over of the cars and said other matters will be addressed through the administration.

“The three cars which were taken, we brought them back today. As we speak in peace, such a problem will not happen again. If there is another problem, it will be handled by the administration,” he said. “We have handed them over and if there are few remaining things, it will be addressed by the administration because they were written and well known,” he said.

On 15 October, the opposition forces arrested Wau County Commissioner Jecinto Matia Mboro at Bringji checkpoint while traveling to Ngo-ko Boma in Wau county to inaugurate a renovated health facility in the area.

The three cars were among the items confiscated by the soldiers and were halted in Baggari headquarters.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The governor of Lakes State, General Rin Tueny Mabor, while meeting the Rumbek Central County community last Thursday declared the commencement of the registration of illegal firearms and a voluntary disarmament exercise in the state.

The acting state information minister, William Koji Kirjok, told Radio Tamazuj over the weekend that the registration of firearms has already started and that the peaceful and voluntary disarmament exercise will last for three months till 4 February 2022.

“We do not mind about the source where these civilians bought guns but what we want is to disarm them and keep the guns,” Minister Koji explained. “Since former governor, Makur Kulang initiated the peaceful and voluntary disarmament exercise in Lakes State last year, there was no firearms proliferation. All the firearms which were removed from the hands of civilians are kept in the government store facility in Rumbek.”

He said Governor Tueny has directed all the chiefs and gelwong (home guard) leaders to register firearms in the hands of civilians and surrender them peacefully to the government before the approaching season of cattle migration to (Toich-manyiel) wetlands.

“The governor has told the community chiefs and gelwong leaders that the cattle migration to the wetlands during the next season will be regulated by the governor, under his directives and no one will be allowed to migrate with cattle to wetlands with firearms,” Minister Koji added.

He further revealed that government armed forces will be stationed by the governor in the wetlands before the communities migrate there with their cattle during the coming dry season.

The executive chief in Rumbek Central County, Mawat Mangar, confirmed that the chiefs and gelwong leaders of Rumbek Central County were in attendance during the meeting with Governor Tueny last Thursday to discuss the arms registration and peaceful disarmament of all civilians in Lakes State.

The paramount chief of Yirol East County, Andrew Madut Buoi, who has been assigned to the special court in Rumbek Central County, said the governor directed all the chiefs to collect all illegal firearms from the civilians and hand them to the government.

“The governor has given us orders to collect the illegal firearms and it has already started in Lakes State since yesterday (Friday),” Chief Madut said. “We have heard the orders of collecting the firearms from the hands of civilians but registration of firearms has started in counties. We agreed because we want arms to be collected from civilians and returned to the government stores.”

He revealed that the governor ordered all the chiefs to migrate with the cattle to wetlands for grazing and everyone will go to their respective cattle camps during the cattle migration and no one will migrate to another person’s cattle camp again.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

A three days commissioners’ forum that has drawn county commissioners, state ministers, local government officers among others from across Eastern Equatoria State commenced in Torit town on Monday with calls for creating a conducive environment and good working relations with development partners while providing them with security across the state.

The commissioners’ forum aims at strengthening governance, rule of law, proper financial management, and revenue collection among others.

Addressing the county commissioners at the Dynamic Business Center in Torit, Governor Louis Lobong Lojore, who presided over the opening of the forum called on the different political parties to work together for the benefit of the people.

“You should create a conducive environment and working relations with our development partners and provide them with security in your respective counties,” Governor Lobong directed. “You must make use of our civil servants who are our technical advisors and you should refer to them for any administrative issues. I would like also to advise you that all conditional grants are meant for specific purposes and specific departments and should not be tampered with.”

He added: “I would like also to state that the budgets of the defunct counties which are now the headquarters of payams in your respective counties must continue to reach those Payams and be managed by the administrators in their respective centers.”

Speaking on behalf of the minister of local government and law enforcement, peacebuilding minister Marko Lokidor said the forum will look into the various roles and responsibilities of the local government personnel.

“This forum will look into various roles and responsibilities of the local government personnel starting from county commissioners, executive directors, chief executive officers, town clerks, and planners,” Minister Lokidor said. “Secondly, we shall be looking at governance and the rule of law, and thirdly, the issue of financial management and revenues to be collected by counties, to clear the confusions between other institutions collecting revenues in the state.”

For his part, UNMISS’ acting head of field office in Torit, Anthony Nwapa, said they are engaging government, especially the commissioners, to build durable peace amongst the communities.

“We are looking forward to engagements with you to build and sustain the successes that have been recorded during the governors’ forum and to push ahead to build durable peace in our communities and encourage women to participate in these initiatives because we believe that women have a prominent role to play to bring about peaceful coexistence within the communities,” Nwapa said.

The forum, under the theme; ‘Towards sustainable, democratic, and decentralized system of local government’, is organized by the ministry of local government and supported by UNMISS’ Civil Affairs Division.

Source: Radio Tamazuj