The committee formed by the national government to collect public views about the controversy surrounding the naming of a new bridge built over the Jur River in Western Bahr el Ghazal State arrived in Wau on Wednesday.
The five-member committee is headed by the deputy speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Kornelio Kon Ngu.
Last month, a group of Luo youth presented a petition to the Western Bahr el Ghazal State Legislative Assembly protesting the new bridge being named Clement Mboro Bridge.
In 2020, the Chinese government offered to build a bridge in South Sudan and the government agreed that they constructed a new bridge over the Jur River in Wau.
In March 2021, China Tianyuan Construction Group Company Limited together with China Aid for Shared Future started the construction of the new bridge which was referred to as Jur River Bridge in the cooperation agreement and subsequent documents between the two governments.
However, one year after construction works commenced, the national council of ministers unanimously endorsed a new name, Clement Mboro Bridge, in honor of a veteran South Sudanese politician who hailed from Wau County in Western Bahr el Ghazal State.
Before that, a youth body from Jur River County which neighbors Wau County, wrote a petition to Governor Sarah Cleto Rial accusing her of being behind the changing of the name of the bridge. They asked her to immediately revoke her proposal to the national council of ministers which suggested the name Clement Mboro Bridge.
Last month, a committee comprised of five members was constituted in Juba to go to Western Bahr el Ghazal State and sound out the people and collect public views about the naming of the new bridge.
They will also find out if the name of Clement Mboro which created a furor among the Luo youths was agreed upon by all the local communities before it was endorsed by the national council of ministers.
Speaking to the press upon arrival in Wau, Kornelio Kon Ngu, the head of the committee who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), said they are in Wau to investigate the source of controversy over the new bridge’s name.
“We are a committee that has come from Juba in connection to administration and political issues linked to the proposed naming of the new bridge that has been constructed over the Jur River,” he said. “We heard that that is a dispute among the people in the state over the names Jur River Bridge and Clement Mboro Bridge which have been proposed and we are concerned. So, we decided to come to the state to find out any mistakes that might have happened.”
The TNLA deputy speaker revealed that his committee would meet all stakeholders and find out if there was a consensus on naming the new bridge.
“We met just the governor and we gave the program of our mission and we will meet all people including chiefs, intellectuals, youth, the state security committee, council of ministers, UNMISS, and all stakeholders. This will make us understand if the people of the state reached a consensus on naming the bridge,” Kon stated. “If there was consensus, then I do not see any problem. It is only if the naming of the bridge has been politicized, then there might be a problem.”
“So, that is why we were here, to sort out this problem and find a peaceful and amicable solution,” he added.