KONGOR community deserves a county of their own in Jonglei state
4 min readBy Isaac Akuoch Chol Akuoch, Juba, South Sudan
May 10, 2016 (SSB) —- The wise often say silence is golden and that agitation or noise doesn’t provide a positive outcome. Well this is not to mean that there are no genuine complains. The way things are moving and developing in the new Jonglei State needs to be met with noise. Necessary and golden noise. The creation of 28 States by the president was to move services (if there are) closer to the masses. It is in this respect that I am airing out my displeasure with the mode or formula that our Governor Philip Aguer used to create new counties in the now former Twi East.
It is clearly obvious the governor was using the 2008 national and household census results to create more counties in the whole of Jonglei. My question at this junction to the governor is why did Kongor payam miss out among the new counties in Twi?
Is it this ambiguous silence of both the Kongor community and the intellectuals that the governor is capitalizing on? Or is it that Governor Philip Aguer is another typical Twi leader who doesn’t fancy doing something to further exalt the name Kongor? Whatever the case, we cannot accept marginalization of our community, especially at this era of the 28 States.
Twi (except Ayual Clan) is a place of emotional dishonesty; it is a place where there is mutual mistrust among the Clans or sub clans. Some clans will always pray hard for the downfall of another clan just out of sheer inferiority complex or may be a sheer enmity. That is why the issue of new counties is so beneficial.
Twi community (except Ayual Clan) has always harboured unexplained cut throat hostility towards Kongor. This is an honest assertion. They will always find fault with Kongor as it has become their preoccupation. Whether Kongor raises a genuine request or complain. Whether Kongor elected to keep quite there will always be some questions like “what is the position of Kongor?” “Why are they keeping quiet?” “They are planning something sinister!” Well to remove this deliberate mistrust it is high time Kongor is allowed to rule itself.
Kongorophobia is a disease that will always lead Twi leaders down and I would wish our governor to rise above this. Several politicians have suffered from this unjustified disease and the results are always not good for our beloved Twi.
Kongor as people has a right to self-determination. It is their inalienable right. It is their destiny deserved dream. Give them their rightful demand.
Talking of the 2008 census, Kongor payam had a population of 22,000 people. It the most populous payam in the entire Twiland. Its area approximately is 87 Sq km making it also the largest payam by size in the entire Twiland. So how did it miss out among the new counties? If Nyuak payam (now Twi Central County) was elevated to a county status and if also Panyang payam in Duk was also crowned into a county, what really happened to this payam of Kongor?
If it is the question of resources being limited then let it be known that we are not the poorest in Twi. Panyagoor market is the pulse of the whole Twi, it is the largest tax source. There is also another one for cows auctioning. These few can sustain a county alongside government grants which will always be there though intermittently.
I believe we can also boast of the largest animals’ population in the entire Twiland. We have the largest number of goats, sheep and cattle. Not to forget our marshland which is also the largest and is commercially viable for large scale fish farming.
We have a secondary school in Pakuoor, five clinics, tens of churches, several primary schools. There are prisons, police offices and government departmental buildings to house county executives. What more does a payam require to be upgraded to a county?
My point thus is for the governor to immediately decree the creation of Kongor County to make the total number of counties in the new Jonglei thirteen apart from the unifying municipality of Bortown. This way the governor would have averted creating a historical injustice again the innocent and determined people of Kongor.
Isaac Akuoch Chol Akuoch is a South Sudanese freelance writer, he can be reached via akuochishakho@yahoo.com
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