The Sudan Handbook

194 thE sudan handbook

Reforms of local government have inevitably been driven by political

agendas, which both the civil service and the Native Administration have

to some extent resisted. The earliest reforms came in 1937 with the devel-

opment of councils as the basis for a new system of local government to

replace the Native Administration. In 1951 this was further advanced, with

the attempt to replace tribal units of administration with territorial ones,

and to gradually replace Native Administration with representative local

government councils. In reality, however, the prominent or dominant

role of the traditional leaders on these councils ensured a significant

degree of continuity. Even after 1971, the traditional leaders and other

powerful local ‘Big Men’ were able to exercise continuing control over the

new councils, through their extensive patronage networks. In southern

Sudan the 1970–71 legislation was never put into effect, and the chiefs

continued to perform both judicial and administrative functions.

The 1971 Act also stipulated for the first time an explicitly political role

for local government officers, and the local councils were tightly linked

to Nimeiri’s Sudan Socialist Union. The control exercised by the ruling

regime over local government was further enhanced by its appointment

of provincial commissioners, whose extensive power over all government

departments within the territorial unit of the province has been described

by John Howell as a ‘prefectoral’ system of decentralized government.

The provincial government not only gained supervisory power over the

local councils, but also gained direct control of the police and security

forces within the province. In many ways the local government reforms

thus saw not greater devolution but increased central control, through

the appointment of powerful provincial commissioners, and the politi-

cization of the administration.

The importance of the judicial role of the traditional leaders was

made particularly apparent by the abolition of Native Administration.

The benches of magistrates that replaced Native Administration courts

provoked vastly increased numbers of appeals to higher courts, and the

judges were unable to handle the volume of dissatisfied litigants. As

early as 1976, the benches were therefore replaced with courts made up

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors overwhelmingly of former Native Administration leaders. Throughout

(www.riftvalley.net).