Petition against Arabic use in public offices

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Petition against Arabic use in public offices
Ayuen Panchol | September 21, 2017 | 1:33 pm
Pres Kiir displays the transitional constitution after signing it into
law during the Independence Day celebrations in Juba, July 9, 2011.

A group of lawyers calling itself Advocates Without Borders has
petitioned the constitutional court over the use Arabic language in
public offices.

After South Sudan gained independence from Khartoum in 2011, the
government dropped Arabic as an official language and chose English as
the sole official language.

The Transitional Constitution states that English shall be the
official working language in the Republic of South Sudan.

“Nothing has changed”

The lawyers say that three particular public institutions violate the
constitutional provision.

These are the Judiciary, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of
Interior, which they say record information in Arabic.

“Nothing has changed. All the paper works from the police, from the
public attorney’s office are in Arabic,” Philip Anyang Ngong, lawyer
of the Advocates Without Borders, told Eye Radio on Thursday.

This, he said, “defeats the dispensation of justice for someone who
doesn’t speak Arabic or someone who wants to see a public document”.

“Going contrary to the provision”

For his part, the head of the petitioners, Peter Ayei, accused the
Judiciary of failing to implement the law.

“The Judiciary, which is supposed to protect the provisions of the
constitution, is the one going contrary to the provision…” Ayei
stated.

“If they want…Arabic, they have to go back to the parliament and amend
the constitution.”

The court is yet comment on the petition.

In the Rejaf Conference held in April 1928 – during the
Anglo-Egyptian condominium – it was decided that the language of
instruction in the South would be English.

But after independence the Sudan government tried to replace English
with Arabic, part of the peace agreement in 1972 ensured that English
continued as the medium of education in most schools in southern
Sudan.

English is widely spoken by those who have had the opportunity of
going to school, either within South Sudan or in the diaspora.

On 2 August 2011, South Sudan’s ambassador to Kenya said Swahili
would be introduced with an aim of replacing Arabic as a lingua
franca.

This is in line with the government’s move to orient the young nation
towards the East African Community rather than Sudan and the Arab
League.

[Interviews by Rosemary; Writing by Ayuen]