
Chronic court delays in Aweil East County, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, have left many residents frustrated and doubtful about the local legal system.
For the residents, the wait for justice has become an agonizing, costly, and dangerous ordeal that tests their faith in the rule of law, and they are demanding urgent intervention.
Among those particularly infuriated by the situation is Ngor Deng, a resident of Aweil East County.
In an interview with Standard Zone news, Mr. Deng criticised what he described as the county judge’s ‘poor court case proceedings.’
Deng shared his own experience, recounting how his bricks, worth millions of South Sudanese pounds, intended for building fences, were stolen. He took the alleged thief to court, hoping for an immediate resolution. Instead, his case dragged on for nearly three months.
He recounted the frustrating cycle of repeated adjournments, with the county judge consistently telling him to ‘come back the next day,’ leaving him in a state of despair.
“In court, instead of the judge proceeding with the case, he has adjourned it seventeen times. He keeps postponing the court cases, saying to come back tomorrow, next week, or next month, from March until now. This is how they have been delaying me since March,” Deng explained.
He also highlighted the dire situation faced by citizens living in distant areas, as the county headquarters is where the judge operates.
“I can say there are people whose cases have dragged on for two years. Someone might travel from a far place to attend a court case in Wanyjok, the headquarters of Aweil East County, only to find in the evening that the case has been adjourned to another day. Imagine someone from Rumaker, on the far side of the highlands, who cannot do any other work because they are only following cases,” he lamented, emphasizing the need to recruit more judges to ease court proceedings and provide legal services to local people at the county level.
Another resident, Joseph Angok Mayath, pointed out the flaws in the court process, stating that they often attend court cases hoping for a timely ruling, only to be sent back and told to return another day.
“It is not good for me, as the one who opened the case against the accuser, because I expect it to end quickly,” Mayath argued.
He added, “I am urging the government that if this continues, most people will lose interest in following their cases. We will deal with those who have offended us directly, and the law will be taken into our own hands because the court has not made rulings within the time needed by the people.”
According to Mayath, the adjournment process causes them to waste time, money, and energy traveling from distant places to attend court hearings.
Meanwhile, Deng Majak, a senior legal counselor in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal High Court, expressed optimism about settling court cases at the county level. However, he highlighted challenges such as a lack of enough judges in the state.
“Yes, we don’t have judges operating in some counties. But when there are cases, we send a prosecutor there to represent us in that area. The same applies to judges. In Aweil South and Aweil Center, which is Arroyo, if there are cases there, we bring them here from Aweil Town to cover these counties,” Majak explained.
“The problem is that there are not enough judges. But we struggle to work to finish the cases in time, and there is no delay,” he stated.