Jur River County appeal for improved services
The Governor of Western Bahr El Ghazal, Sarah Cleto, led a delegation of leaders from her government on a tour to Jur River County to deliver a message of peace to the people on Friday.
Jur River County Commissioner, Nichoala Thiep, presented the problems facing the residents to the governor. Some of the issues raised by Mr Thiep included the issues of water, telecommunications, roads connecting Bomas, Payams, and the county, a lack of secondary schools, and a shortage of nurses and midwives to deliver women.
He claimed that some individuals had abandoned their homes in search of water. He requested that the state government drill boreholes for them.
Thiep also praised the parties to the 2018 revitalised agreement for agreeing to address the country’s conflict, which he said had resulted in political stability and increased security throughout the country.
“Now there is SPLM, SSOA, OPP and SPLM-IO all these are one government and they are doing the same work. “Let’s respect this government because it is this government that brought peace and if they had not formed the unity government until now they would have been fighting,” he articulated.
“The unity government is the reason for political stability, security stability, and the stability of everything. “Now every child is able to study. If it were not for the unity government, there would have been no peace,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Wilson Bol Aleu, a youth representative in Jur River County, has called for the recruitment of youngsters with abilities in many fields of study into the state government to serve as the government’s backbone.
Bol also urged the government to empower youths across the state by providing them with quality education, which he believes is the only way to prevent them from turning to alcoholism.
“As a youth, we would like the government to provide a quality education so that the younger generation will follow us and see the goodness of the government of South Sudan.
“We are one people, one nation. We don’t have other things to discriminate against ourselves by saying you are from this side, and you are from this is, no. We are the same, and we do the same thing, and we would like you to remember the youths of Jur River County,” he said.
However, Western Bahr Ghazal State Minister of Information, Adison Arkangelo Musa, stated his ministry and telecommunication companies have already devised a plan for the three counties of Wau, Raja, and Jur River to install networks in places where people do not have access to communication.
“Telecommunication networks are important for the because we are to ensure that there is access to the network for the citizens of Western Bahr El Ghazal” Arkangelo noted.
“Last time when I came, this was the first thing I spoke about so that people can talk to their relatives and people in Wau, Aweil, Warrap and all the other states. This is little thing we did with the telecommunication company,” he retreated.
In her message to the people of Jur River County, Governor Cleto urged them to embrace peace and unity in order to foster development in the state and the counties where access to basic amenities is limited.
She urged them to refrain from inciting hatred toward one another and instead concentrate on what the government and community can do to improve the living standards of everyone in the state.
“Today, I am with you here and another person will go and do propaganda on the other side, so let’s leave this issue of propaganda. Let us put our hands in one agenda and let us have that trust among ourselves in what we can do, but when we want to be sceptical of all of us, we shall not move,” Cleto stressed.
Cleto stated that the three counties of Western Bahr El Ghazal State have numerous challenges, emphasising the high rate of early marriage among young girls as a result of limited access to education, particularly the death of schools in Jur River County, such as secondary schools.
“As a unity government and children of Wau and Western Bahr El Ghazal, we are working to ensure we deliver services to you, and we need you to support us in the county and the commissioner so that he can deliver services in the county,” she emphasised.
