The Eastern Equatoria State Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies Director General Abdallah Hassan Famai has clarified that the Council of Traditional Authority Leaders (COTAL) does not operate independently from other government institutions.
17 August 2010
By Peter Lokale Nakimangole
TORIT, 17 August 2010 (Gurtong) – Speaking yesterday in Torit at a 3-day consultative workshop of Council of Traditional Authority Leaders of Eastern Equatoria State, Famai dispelled claims by COTAL that they operate as an autonomous institution within its own jurisdiction.
“You cannot be fully autonomous when the State Ministry of Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies exists because you operate under it. You are part of the local government only that you are extremely closest to the lowest administration of people at the grassroots”, he said.
He added that COTAL is a link and change agent between the people and the government.
“The idea of empowering you is to make a change and create uniform systems of judging societal norms for better and effective governance”, added the Director General.
He called for active cooperation among the traditional leaders adding that by so doing they are able to come up with their own bill which will from time to time safeguard and define their roles and functions as well as powers to be exercised by them.
He, however, clarified that the COTAL hold powers of mobilising resources including revenue collection to facilitate their operations.
Analysts have, however, criticised the government’s policy towards traditional leadership and have called for further adjustments to accommodate it.
They say chiefs know all the corners of their areas of jurisdiction and can efficiently reduce insecurity by apprehending perpetrators and criminals as well as resolving conflicts at the lowest levels.
They also content that traditional leaders play an instrumental role in local administration as well as revenue collection.
“Therefore, granting the traditional command authority to manage its affairs becomes of paramount importance so that available resources can be adequately mobilised and disclosed to the government. By doing so, they begin to feel ownership of governance hence improved relations. Failure to do this will continue to make local chiefs maintain their standoff and hide revenue base from the government even for hundreds of decades from now”, say the analysts.
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