Chief chosen to lead council
RUMBEK, Sudan, March 16, (Gurtong) – On the final day of the ‘Forum
of Traditional Leaders’ conference held this week in Rumbek, the 40 chiefs
in attendance signed a copy of the new ‘Council for Traditional Leaders
in Lakes State’ constitution, the first of its kind in South Sudan since
the signing of the north-south peace agreement in Jan. 2005.
The chiefs, who represent all eight counties of Lakes States, also voted on
a leader for the council. Chief Dut Malwal Arop, a high profile chief and already
an elected community leader for three of the counties, will serve as the Chairman
of the council for an as yet unknown period of time.
His duties are already heavy, while it was agreed by the chiefs that the new
council should meet three times a year in different parts of Lakes State, he
needs to get agreement on one location for offices and a meeting hall to be
built for the council’s administrative purposes. The Swiss Government
who, together with the United States Institute for Peace, funded the conference
has set aside US$20,000 for this purpose it was announced yesterday.
A treasurer and secretary also need to be found for the council and most importantly,
Chief Dut has to choose an executive body, which he has agreed will contain
all ethnic subsections of the Dinka tribes in the area and representatives of
all areas.
“My goal is now to form the executive,” said Chief Dut in an interview
following his election by consensus, “I think this will take about a week”.
H said that the biggest challenges would be financing the council, and finding
solutions to disputes in the counties.
The Acting Governor of Lakes State, Awan Guol said that the new council was
going to be taken very seriously by the political top of the state.
“We have now opened a new chapter altogether, a new way of handling thing,
sorting things out,” said Guol of the new council.
“We will be discussing funding the council, this important issue will
be brought to the State Council of Ministers,” said Guol. He said that
it was understood that the chiefs wanted their powers, which have been degraded
over the years of war, restored to them but that this was a decision to be made
by the Local Government Board who are currently drafting a Local Government
Act.
The head of the board, Caesar Arkangelo, who was also present throughout the
conference, said that he hoped similar meetings would take place across Southern
Sudan, so that other members of the traditional authority could also identify
why their powers had waned over the war years.
“During the war, the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) had their
own administration and some of that administration seems to have eaten some
of your authority away,” said Arkangelo who did not make any promises
about restoring administrative and judicial powers to the chiefs through the
Local Government Act which is still being worked on by his office.
“We hope that the authorities of the nine other states of Southern Sudan
follow suite, you are the closest people to the people of the state, and the
custodians of our traditions and customs,” said Arkangelo.
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