Jan 20, 2021(Nyamilepedia) — A South Sudanese horologist, Alex Lubajo has called on the government to raise awareness of the new time zone before making the changes.
According to Mr. Lubajo, who is an expert in horology – the art or science of measuring time- the government should take time to inform the citizens as they are asking why the time zone is being changed.
“In many countries, that is how things ought to be done,” Alex Lubajo said, adding that “to be informed within a month that ‘next month we are going to change the time zone,’ people are asking why?”
Lubajo, a graduate of Bachelor of Education in Geography and History at the University of Namibia, said that people are yet to understand the significance of the changes.
“Looking at the Geography perspective, I don’t have opposition to the idea but…people have to be educated first so that…they really understand,” he advised.
Last week, the government spokesperson Michael Makuei insisted that the time zone will be changed with effect from the 1st of February.
He explained that South Sudan adopted the current time zone from Sudan before independence, and even after independence, South Sudan maintained the time although Sudan already changed its time zone.
According to the government spokesperson, the country has the freedom to change the time zone without answering to anybody.
“There is no question of somebody coming to us and ask why did we change our time zone, no.” Makuei said.
He advised that “everybody is under the duty to adjust whether internationally. Even the airlines have to adjust according to what we are saying. So everybody is under the duty to adjust.”
After the change, South Sudan will observe the same local time as Rwanda, Egypt, Chad and neighboring Sudan.
