The executive chiefs of Agur Boma under Mapel payam of Western Bhar El Ghazal has proposed the reduction of dowry prices in Jur community.
After a consultative workshop attended in Wau by Jur River County executive chiefs and paramount chiefs, they proposed to revise the current high dowry prices to at least the past agreed number.
According to the previous agreement, dowry price were only cows and goats and they intend to get rid of current bride price method where it involves large amount of money.
The Jur local leaders raise concerns urging the top leadership to come up with regulations and strategies regarding the Jur community customary marriage prices not the current commercialised one
Jacob Malim Uchu after his return from the workshop in Wau told Don Bosco radio that Jur community marrying prices nowadays has reached an intimidating level which needs to be rekindled because many youths are still singles and many of them have engaged into thefts activities or loiter d in towns due to prices of dowry
“The issue of high dowry prices has caused a huge disorder in the community and that is why you see nowadays where a lot of youths seems to have given up in life where you see them just loitering in towns and cities because they look at themselves as not capable manage such dowry prices of this days.
And some of the youth end up stealing other people’s properties or even involved themselves into looting, this is because they are frustrated, and that is why we came up as chiefs suggesting to reduce these prices so that these youths who are scattered may try to come back home to get married and start a new chapter of life through cultivation and in that way all the criminals will resort to normal human living with dignity
Malim Uchu called on Jur community to welcome the new proposal for the benefit of greater youth suffering from economic crises battling to marry but are obstructed by hardship
He added that compensation charges are also to be reactivated for Jur the community and people would activate the past cultural values if concrete law is officially passed by state magistrate soon.
We have also raised the issue of compensation for example somebody who has injured someone and also someone who has killed a person, all these misconducts have their own legal prices as compensation and appeasements processes.
Therefore, we want our community to view these critically and embrace them, let them not be driven by this modern situation where everything is looked at as money being income and forgetting our cultural rules that governed us in past
Chief Malim Uchu said that draft complete of the mandate on Jur prices renewal is planned to be passed to the community on 15th August 2023 when all the chiefs could return to Wau to amend the existence and new laws