The new ruling generation of the Pari community in the now-defunct Lafon County in Eastern Equatoria State said they are committed to maintaining peace and security alongside boosting agriculture and other developmental activities in the area.
Pari community in November last year inaugurated the traditional handing over ceremony from the elders to the new generation after only six years.
Lafon/Pari community initially perform the initiation and handover ceremony after twenty-two years but have continued to reduce the timelines due to what they described as the inability of the successive ruling generations to lead the community in keeping peace and security in addition to boosting agricultural production to avert hunger.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj today, Okuk John Ibaki the youth leader in Lafon said his group vowed to live in peace within and with neighbours and to boost agriculture.
“The first thing we need is for the whole of Lafon to have peace, secondly we need our neighbouring communities like the Lopit, Lotuko, Lokoya, Bari, Dinka, and Toposa to live in peace and harmony with us,” Okuk said.
“We, the new generation, have to manage the issue of food in the villages because there are other people who can cast a spell on the grain to spoil then our people will suffer. Right now things are happening here and there, raiding of cattle, child abductions, and in the community we have early marriages, raping, so all these bad things are controlled very well the community will say this is the right generation to rule for some years,” he added.
Timon Bilang, an elder from Pari expects the new generation to implement what they vowed to uphold during the inauguration and initiation ceremony.
"We expect them to stabilize the village, we need peace because the previous years had many challenges but now they said they will be together, no more segregation between a tribe and a tribe. They also came with some orders, like education which they say is a must. Children must go to school,” Elder Bilang added. “They also say enough food should come to the village because all these years hunger affected the community. Let them try so that food comes to the village. People have to cultivate, it is the Daru generation who were replaced by the new generation called Kenyi (Bird).”
Susan Nyaba, agrees peace and security should be prioritized besides education for children.
“We need enough food to be produced in our community, we also need peace with our neighbours and we also need security for ourselves because our children have been abducted and our cattle raided. The road is also bad. We need roads and we also need schools to be renovated for our children because now there is no way our children can learn. We need some new teachers to be brought to teach our children,” Nyaba said.
Ingofok Irru, the executive director of the now-defunct Lafon, strongly urged the Pari new ruling generation to adhere to advice from elders within and outside the county.
He added that the government will cooperate with the new leadership to deliver services to the community.
“My advice to them as the administrator here is to hang on to the peace and secondly the community should care for developmental issues within the county. They also have to adhere to the advice from the elders here for them to be in peace,” Irru said.
The area frequently experiences child abductions and cattle raids.