[OPINION] – No Tribe Owns Lainya County

By Emmanuel Khamis Richard

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Lainya County is not a tribal entity. It is a government administrative and political sub-state level of government that belongs to all the people living within its legal boundaries. All tribes and territories that make up Lainya County enjoy equal political and administrative rights.

The order establishing Lainya County in 2004 did not mention or declare it as the ethnic homeland of one tribe. Like most counties in Central Equatoria State and South Sudan as a whole, Lainya County is multiethnic.

The Multiethnic Nature of Kupera

In Kupera, for example, the Kakuwa, Pojulu and other smaller ethnic groups such as the Bari, Kuku and Olubo have lived peacefully under one umbrella as the people of Kupera. Each community respects the other, and each section lives on its own land according to the subvillages that make up Kupera and Wuji Payams.

+ Kupera Payam includes the subvillages of Kirikwat, Kupera, Pakire, Bori, Jamara and Mundu.

+ Wuji Payam includes Limuro, Wuji, Gwotoro, Giwaya, Dingoro, Kujima and Koyoki.

Within these subvillages, the Kakuwa and Pojulu are the dominant ethnic groups. By political and administrative structure, Kupera and Wuji are not separate from Lainya County. They are part of it.

On Ethnicity

There are no issues between the Pojulu and Kakuwa in Kupera and Wuji, despite outside assumptions. During government and political functions, the people of Kupera and Wuji participate as equal citizens of Lainya County, just like those from Kenyi, Mukaya and Lainya Payams.

The Pojulu ethnic sections in Kupera and Wuji Payams have been actively participating in Pojulu community cultural programmes, including the last two cultural festivals.

The Kakuwa sections did not complain or intimidate any Pojulu members. Likewise, the Kakuwa people have been active in their own cultural events, and no Pojulu has opposed or rejected their participation.

The rights of all ethnic and cultural groups in South Sudan are protected by law and guaranteed by history.

Congratulations and Encouragement

I congratulate the Kakuwa people in Kupera and Wuji Payams for taking part in their community elections, which led to the election of Dada Isaac Lemi, a Kakuwa from Kupera, as Chairman of the Kakuwa Community.

I also encourage the Pojulu people in Kupera and Wuji Payams to prepare and contest for leadership in the Pojulu community. The other minority tribes in the area are free to trace their roots and associate with their major ethnicities while still belonging politically and administratively to Lainya County.

Until South Sudan is further decentralised, we must celebrate our ethnic diversity and continue living together in peace.

Final Word

Take it or leave it: nobody should threaten or intimidate anyone. We are all equal before the law. Our responsibility is to develop our bomas, payams, counties, states and South Sudan as a whole.

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Emmanuel Khamis Richard is the former Commissioner of Lainya County and previously served as Commissioner of Kupera County during the 32 states period. He is also a former official at the Yei County High Court in the Judiciary of South Sudan.

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