The newly appointed caretaker governor of Northern Bahr al Ghazal State Kuel Aguer Kuel has outlined some basic plans for his term, saying he will support the SPLA and strengthen rule of law. He spoke Wednesday evening at an event in Juba to honor his appointment to the position.
The event was attented by hundreds of natives of Northern Bahr el Ghazal and neighboring areas of Warrap, Western Bahr al Ghazal, Lakes state and Abyei.
Kuel was appointed to the position of caretaker governor by presidential decree after the promotion of his predecessor Paul Malong to the position of SPLA Chief of Staff. He is now the fourth caretaker governor in the country, with six other states having elected governors.
According to the terms of the South Sudanese constitution, an appointed caretaker governor should governor for only 60 days before an election to allow open competition for the governorship,
Article 101 (S) of the constitution states that it is the responsibility of the caretaker governor to prepare for elections within 60 days of his appointment. But in three other states – Jonglei, Unity and Lakes – caretaker governors have been ruling beyond that period without any preparations for elections.
In his remarks on the occasion on Wednesday, the new governor said that his government will do what governments normally do. He pointed that he would give people of the state their rights but swiftly warned that he would not give somebody something that does not belong to them.
“When I was sworn in I said that what I would go and do are the things that the government does. First of all the government is established to defend the country from external aggression. So I will stand with the SPLA in order for the SPLA to defend the state from external aggression and from what might arise internally,” he said.
“The government is established so that nobody takes somebody else’s property. Nobody should take somebody’s property and the rule of law must be respected,” he said.
Kuel continued to outline his priorities for his time in office: “What I want to tell you is that there is no country where people can develop without achieving education. Only a few people can be clever without achieving education.”
“The fourth thing there is nobody who can work when they are unhealthy, human beings must first be healthy before they work so we want to make the hospital so that there is no woman who can die while giving birth,” he said.
“The fifth thing is making roads through which people would visit each other, roads going to counties and roads from counties to the state. Roads must be laid for people to come and go back home,” he stressed.
The ceremony in honor of the new governor was attended by many current leaders and ex-leaders from Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal including the Minister of Environment Hon. Deng Deng Hoc, the Speaker of Northern Bahr al-Ghazal House Monica Achol William, the Press Secretary of the President Ateny Wek Ateny, and the former governor Lual Deng Kon, among others.
While addressing the gathering the environment minister Deng Deng thanked President Salva Kiir for appointing Kuel whom he described as his “former teacher and comrade,” and for appointing former governor Paul Malong as chief of general staff.
He asked the people of Aweil to stand with the two leaders and assured the caretaker governor of his support. “Kuel helped me to do something that I could not do the previous year. He taught me mathematics and I was able to pass mathematics and go to University of Juba and I joined him where he was already in third or fourth year and he was a member of the Students’ Youth Union.”
“I have known him for his generosity, for his iron determination to succeed and to help others to succeed,” Deng said.
He also told an anecdote about how Kuel was once dismissed at the University of Juba for standing for his principles but was later re-admitted after students conducted a “mass resignation” demanding his re-admission.
“I have known him for standing for his principles. I remember he was dismissed with John Cairo and 38 other union executives in the University of Juba as a result of misunderstandings between the management and the Juba University Students’ Union.”
“I remember we resigned all of us en masse because they were dismissed. So I’m sure he has the courage and the determination to do the job of the governor, so I wish you good luck and I wish to pledge to you my support,” he remarked.
For his part, the president’s press secretary Ateny Wek Ateny stressed that good citizens should support their president and therefore respect and recognize the appointments of Paul Malong as chief of general staff and Kuel Aguer as a caretaker governor.
“The constitution says that any loyal citizen of his or her country must also be loyal to his president and follows his orders. So support the president’s appointments of Paul Malong as chief of general staff and Kuel Aguer as caretaker governor of Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal,” Ateny reminded the gathering.
Kuel hails from Aweil North County. Prior to his appointment he was working as the finance secretary for South Sudan’s ruling party SPLM. It was expected that he would travel to Aweil on Friday.