Council drops plan to grill governors, chief administrators
The Council of States has suspended the summons issued to the governors and chief administrators.
The governors of Unity, Jonglei, Western Equatoria, and Warrap states, and the chief of administrators of Ruweng, Abyei, and Pibor, were supposed to appear before the upper house on Tuesday, February 22, 2022.
According to Alex Daniel, the press secretary of Western Equatoria State governor Alfred Futuyo, the latter had been notified by the Council of States to appear before the house after the national budget had been passed.
According to the letter, “the office of the Rt. Speaker of the Council of States is hereby informing the Office of Governor that his appearance before the Council of States August House is rescheduled to be after the passing of the national budget for 2022/2023, but the date is not known when they are going to pass the national budget,” Daniel said.
The four states and three administrative areas have experienced recurring sub-national violence that has claimed lives, wounded many others, and led to mass displacements of the civil population.
Issues at hand
Over 40,000 people were displaced in Western Equatoria State, Tombura County between May and September 2021. They are still facing a dire humanitarian situation in various locations within the state and part of Western Bahr al Ghazal State.
The state was also said to have been experiencing governance wrangles that resulted in some state cabinet ministers boycotting council of ministers meetings as well as petitioning the governor over the state’s affairs.
Daniel said it was unfortunate that Futuyo had hoped to find solutions to some of these challenges, pointing out that though its summons had been canceled, he would still pursue an avenue to normalise the situation in Western Equatoria.
“The governor was very excited when he received to summon as it was indicated that they were going to discuss security and governance issues, hoping that they would also give some advice that he would go apply to normalise things in the state, but unfortunately, he received the notification that the date of appearance has been adjourned indefinitely,” he stated.
Warrap and Unity states have also been witnessing violent inter-communal fights in recent days that have claimed lives and displaced thousands more.
At least 17 people were reportedly killed in a revenge attack in Thuc County, Ruweng Administrative Area, allegedly carried out by armed youth from the neighbouring community.
Days later, in the same month, suspected armed youth from Twic County, Warrap State, attacked and killed about 10 civilians and wounded several others in Agok and Niet areas in Abyei Administrative Area.
A similar incident claimed more than 32 and wounded at least 17 people in Jonglei State this month, with armed youth from Pibor Administrative Area blamed for the deadly attack.
