The residents of Raga County of Western Bahr el Ghazal State have urged the state parliament to lift the suspension of Commissioner Addison Arkangelo so that he can resume his duties in the county.
On 11 January 2023, members of the state assembly in Western Bahr el Ghazal State issued a directive confining Arkangelo to Wau town until the lawmakers finalized an investigation on illegal gold mining in Raga County’s Boro-Madina area.
Several residents of Raga town on Thursday told Radio Tamazuj that the absence of the commissioner in the county has paralyzed service delivery.
According to Abakar Dunia Ismail, the commissioner’s absence has had a negative impact and curtailed development.
“The absence of the commissioner has affected us negatively. The commissioner went to Wau because he had a problem with the state assembly over illegal goal mining but we heard that the case was resolved,” he said. “We need him back to work because the Diem Zubierrea area is now hosting over 600 refugees from the Central African Republic. If the commissioner is not here, nobody can welcome them and even there are no developments because the leader is not around.”
Another Raga resident, Sabir Samin Bush, said many visitors and dignitaries go to Raga but there is no important local official to welcome them.
“One of the challenges that we experienced is that if a delegation visits Raga, there is no good reception because the executive director cannot explain everything,” he said. “Last week we received a team of organizations who came to find out the challenges facing us but the executive director spoke up to his capacity. If the commissioner was there, he would have spoken and a follow-up would have been done for the benefit of our citizens.”
“Also, our relatives in the refugee camps in Darfur (Sudan) and from Central Africa are returning home but they do not get warmly welcomed and they will think there is instability,” Samin added.
When contacted, the head of the Information committee in the state assembly, Agala Simon, said the final status of the Raga County commissioner will be determined next Tuesday.”
“The final sitting regarding the issue of the commissioner is next Tuesday. We demanded that Commissioner Arkangelo remains in Wau and not work during his confinement but the commissioner was illegally operating his office from Wau,” he said. “The problem is that he has continued to illegally issue orders.”