Gogrial governor rejects reversing creation of 13 counties
April 20, 2016 (JUBA) – Abraham Gum Makuac, governor of the newly created Gogrial state, home to President Salva Kiir and one of the 28 controversial states, has pledged not to reverse his local order, which created 13 counties in the state prior to approval by the council of states in Juba.
The number of the proposed 28 states is yet to be confirmed or altered by the parties to the August 2015 peace agreement signed with the opposition leader of SPLM-IO, Riek Machar.
Governor Makuac, according to several legislators and officials within his administration and critics, has threatened to resign from his position or do it if the creation of more administrative units has been reversed.
The governor in March divided Gogrial into 13 counties after it became a state of its own from Tonj and Twic which have also been upgraded to the level of two separate states in the country.
The new governor divided Gogrial west into 9 counties and Gogrial East into 4 counties, raising the number of counties to 13.
However, the council of states, which is the upper legislative house dealing with the states affairs, including changing the names of a state, relocation of administrative headquarters and approving additional administrative units, announced last week it approved each state to create not more than 8 counties.
His critics have blamed him for creation of more administrative units without waiting for parliamentary approval and for taking a decision not based on proper studies and without any budget to fund activities.
The governor and his deputy, Santino Akot Abiem, have also been accused of intimidating political opponents following a series of arrests in recent months.
One of the critical youth members, William Lual Aterdit, was arrested in March and has continued to remain in detention allegedly for being critical of the performance of the governor and his deputy.
Another youth member identifying himself as Deng Makuok told Sudan Tribune last week he was threatened by the deputy governor with the arrest should he continues to talk about how the governor conducts his administrative functions or how he runs the affairs of the state.
Makuok defied the threats and is continuing with his criticism of the performance of the governor and his deputy.
He added the officials were not running their private businesses to avoid public scrutiny, calling on them to step aside lest they do not want to be scrutinized.
(ST)