The acting commissioner of Tonj North County in Warrap State on Monday said his administration has revived the ban on alcohol as it escalates communal violence.
Early this year, the state banned several imported and locally distilled spirits (Aregi) in an attempt to reduce crime along the roads and in cattle camps.
The ban was however only implemented effectively in Gogrial East County but not in neighboring Tonj North County from where alcohol was being smuggled to bordering areas that straddle the two counties, according to officials.
Over the weekend, William Duchak, the commissioner of Gogrial East County, and Daniel Mangor, the acting commissioner of Tonj North County convened a peace and reconciliation meeting at Mayen Rual Town in Gogrial East to tackle a border dispute and mitigate mutual suspicions between the communities of the neighboring counties.
“The banning of alcohol was not effective in Tonj North County although the decree was issued by Governor Kuol Muor. However, Gogrial East was the best county that implemented the ban,” Mangor explained. “When I was appointed acting commissioner of Tonj North County, I felt it was one of the factors causing problems in the county. The reviving of the ban was reached after the peace and reconciliation meeting held in Mayen Rual Town.”
“We revved the ban on alcohol after the authorities in Gogrial East County and local chiefs raised the concerns that alcohol consumers in Gogrial East sneaked into my village called Pankot at the border where the ban was not enforced, so, I came from the meeting and immediately revived the ban,” he added.
The acting commissioner said that when the youth consume alcohol, they become, unruly, and violent and take the law into their own hands and ambush vehicles, raid cattle, kill people and loot property.
He revealed that the penalty for those selling banned alcohol is SSP 3,000, the consumer is fined SSP 1,500, and failure to pay means serving time in prison where the culprit will make bricks for the development of the county’s institutions.
Bona Malual, the chairperson of Warrap State Civil Society Alliance (WASCA), welcomed the ban.
“This is a very great idea which should be applied in all counties and the state government should ban alcohol even in the big towns because it negatively affects the youths,” he said. “It is part of business but liquors, including the local one called Aregi, are dangerous and have to be controlled because we do not want people to die.”