South Sudan’s Council of States has warned that counties and payams created without following legal procedures cannot be officially recognized as administrative units.
Speaking to The Nile Witness on Friday, Richard Amonya, a representative of the Council of States, said the creation of administrative units must comply with the law, including community consultation and the issuance of an establishment order.
“Any county and payam which is established without an establishment order is not called a payam; it is not called a county,” Amonya said.
He stated that an establishment order is a legal requirement for an area to be formally recognized as a county or payam.
“Because a county, to identify it as a county, that means you need to have an establishment order that has been given to that place,” he stated.
Amonya acknowledged that some administrative units have been created outside the required procedures, describing some of the decisions as politically motivated.
He cited Jonglei State as an example, saying the Council of States had received numerous complaints from communities over the creation of payams and sub-counties.
“Right now, in Jonglei State, for example, we have a lot of creation of payams and sub-counties which is happening. And we receive a lot of complaints from the people of Jonglei that they bring their complaints, and we take note of that,” he said.
Amonya noted that the Council is reviewing the complaints against the provisions of the 2018 peace agreement and existing laws, which he said restrict the creation of new administrative units during the transitional period.
“Based on all sorts of agreements, including the 2018 agreement, there are no creations of payams and counties unless we go for the elections. It is there in the laws,” he stressed.
He emphasized that the Council of States is considering summoning authorities responsible for creating administrative units without following the required procedures.
“As a Council of States, we are trying now to look into it so that either we need to summon those who are creating this thing based on the Local Government Act. Then we also hear from them what is happening,” he noted.
Amonya warned that disputes over the creation and boundaries of administrative units have contributed to violence, displacement and destruction of property in some communities.
He further stressed that local communities must be involved in the establishment of administrative units and that proposed areas must meet the legal requirements before they can be officially declared counties or payams.