WBeG government establishes 41 payam courts

March 26, 2015 (WAU) – The government of South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal state has established 41 courts in the newly established payams [districts] in the region.

In Jur River county, Garang lauded the creation of Mbili payam court, saying it will reduced case overloads in state courts.

“As we are today opening a new court, the state government is currently working very hard to send in new judges who will preside over cases in payams without referring cases to the state,” he said.

“This is a provision of [the] Local Government Act and it is your responsibility as payam administrators and local chiefs to implement the move,” added Garang.

According to the deputy governor, local government is training payam chiefs on rule of law, which will enable them, resolve minor cases within their communities without necessarily referring them to state courts.

Jur River county commissioner, Simon Athuai said the newly created courts would compose of four members, including the payam chief.

“During the training, chiefs and the members would be acquainted with all legal procedures to charge citizens justly,” he stressed.

This year alone, the state government has created two county headquarters and 41 additional payams for the three counties.

While addressing the state assembly on Wednesday, governor Rizik Zackaria Hassan said creation of the 41 payams would strengthen decentralisation governing systems.

(ST)