Cracking the Hard Nut: Making New Counties Work

By Daniel Deng Bol 

Kongor County Commissioner Hon. Garang Bul Pager has unveiled priorities to develop the new county.

The official said his administration has set high on the agenda discouraging hate speech with the view to uniting the people, in addition to improving on healthcare and agriculture, fighting corruption, reconstructing the dyke, and urban planning of the county.

Speaking on phone with the Dawn newspaper from Panyagor, the County headquarters, Commissioner Pager urged his people to be agents of unity in the Greater Twic East. He denounced hate speeches that are becoming increasingly prevalent in religious, social, political and communal life, describing them as the manifestation of lack of unity and love for one another and a recipe for a chaotic society.

This view is consistent with a recent expert report which showed that the level, trend and occurrence of hate speeches constitute a threat to peace, unity and security of the country.

Just days after he assumed office, Pager revealed that the five newly appointed commissioners of the daughter counties of the former Twic East County met recently and renewed their resolve to deliver services across their constituencies. They solemnly promised to streamline security through embarking on a system which would provide maximum protection to all the people in the five counties.

In spite of the enthusiasm in the new administrations, they are yet to surmount an outstanding challenge in securing funds to implement those priorities.

A Brief history of Kongor County

Kongor refers to both the geographical area and the people inhabiting it in Jonglei State, South Sudan. It is located on east bank of the Nile River and about 80 miles (130 km) north of Bor, the state capital.

Their means of livelihood is mainly subsistence farming which consists in growing crops and rearing cattle. And like the vast plains of Upper Nile, the area experiences seasonal flooding and drought depending on the season, which adds a pastoralist nature to the lives.

Kongor was administered under Bor until 1976 when it was commissioned a district by then Sudanese President Jaafar Mohammed Nimeiri to cover what was referred to as Bor North which extended to areas comprising the present-day Duk County. Apparently the name Kongor District did not appeal to a considerable portion of the population, so it continued to be administered as payam of Twic East County (the five payams were Ajuong, Kongor, Lith, Nyuak and Pakeer) throughout the long liberation struggle until recently.

When President Salva Kiir Mayardit decreed on 2^nd October 2015 the creation of new Jonglei State along with other twenty-seven (27) states replacing the ten (10) old states, former Jonglei State shrunk to only the three counties of Bor, Twic East and Duk. Challenged to stand on their own, these three counties had to be reorganized into new administrative units. Bor has remained the state capital. (See below for the counties).

Two years after the decree, on November 26, 2017 Governor Philip Aguer issued an order creating additional three counties in the greater Twic East and Duk Counties. Paliau and Kongor Counties were engraved from Twic East while Pangak County emerged from Duk, bringing the total number of counties across the new state to seventeen.

According to the Sudan’s Fifth Population and Housing Census, conducted in April 2008, Twic East County had a population of 85,349 people, comprising 44,039 males and 41,310 females – with Kongor home to a third of this population.

In the 21^st century, Jonglei has been marred by clashes among tribes of the region which the UN estimated in May 2012 had affected the lives of over 140,000 people. And with the resurgence of violence after December 2013, the situation has changed drastically, with thousands displaced across the borders to neighbouring countries.

The new payams in Kongor County are Pakuor, Payom, Garalei, and Pageer. These have further been divided into sixteen Bomas – Pakuor (Piom-Wun-Aguer, Piom-Awan, Than-Anyieer, Pachol), Payom (Mabior, Duk-Peeny, Kiir, Dier-Roor, Piom-Bioor), Garalei (Manyang, Badhoot, Agom) and Pageer (Pamot, Pajomba, Piom-Ang’uet, Agher-Rot).

Administrative divisions in Jonglei State

In May 2016, the new Jonglei was reorganized into 14 new counties as follows:

Former Bor County now comprises:

1. Bor South County
2. Bor Gok County
3. Bor East County
4. Makuach County
5. Bor Center County
6. Bor West County
7. Athooch County
8. Bor North County

Former Twic East comprises:

1. Twic South County
2. Twic Center County
3. Twic North County.

Former Duk County comprises:

1. Duk Padiet County
2. Duk Payuel County
3. Panyang County

The newly established counties counties are Palieu, Kongor and Pagak Counties.