G-10 critique of establishment order is a complete baloney
By Gordon Buay
Muolana John Luk must be joking to argue that the Establishment Order that created the 28 states violated South Sudan Transitional Constitution without admitting that the Compromised Peace Agreement imposed by IGAD-Plus has provisions which violated the same constitution.
The IGAD-Plus told us the Government that the violation of the Transitional Constitution in the name of peace was justified. We accepted it and our President signed the peace on August, 26. Even before our President signed it, the Americans drafted a resolution to impose sanctions on us if we didn’t set aside the Constitution.
We agreed with the Americans and the Europeans that if the violation of our Constitution by the imposed peace would lead to peace and stop violence, then, that is fine as long as our people and the international community agreed.
After we signed the Compromised Peace Agreement, the people of South Sudan said they wanted a devolution of powers in order for the imposed peace to work. Again, in the spirit of peace, our President agreed and issued Establishment Order to take towns to the people to consolidate peace.
The Group of 10 (FDs) should be honest enough to admit that the IGAD-Plus imposed peace already violated the Transitional Constitution in the name of peace. We are in an era of restructuring the state called South Sudan in order to cement a permanent peace. The first action to bring peace or to make the imposed peace work is the creation of 28 states.
Unless the hidden agenda of G-10 and some powers is a regime change, no sane person can actually reject an Establishment Order that would make the imposed peace to work.
What is facing us the Government is how to bring a permanent peace in the country. If at all the protection of the Transitional Constitution could take precedent over peace, our President could not have signed the IGAD peace which violated the Constitution.
In the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan, there is no position of the First Vice President stipulated in the Compromised Peace Agreement. Everybody knows that there are more than 30 provisions of the IGAD peace which violated our Constitution. Yet we signed the imposed peace despite the violations of our Constitution because we want peace.
I was laughing at the response of G-10 arguing that the Establishment Order violated the Constitution of South Sudan while the imposed peace they signed violated the same Constitution and the G-10 did not protest (instead they signed it).
Muolana John Luk must be legally joking to argue that there is no provision in the Constitution which supports the Establishment Order. Is there a provision in the Transitional Constitution which supports the position of the FIRST VICE PRESIDENT stipulated in the Compromised Peace Agreement ?
The Group of 10 would look less intelligent than the rest of the people if they want to predicate their critique of the Establishment Order on whether it violated the Constitution or not. The Compromised Peace Agreement already violated South Sudan Transitional Constitution. What we should be talking about is not whether the Constitution is violated. What we should be discussing is whether the creation of 28 states has a support of the people of South Sudan.
Based on the reaction of different communities in the country, the Establishment Order is supported by more than 98% of the population. In Parieng, Akobo, Gok, Aweil, Maridi, etc, the people have been dancing since October, 2nd. It is reported that even cows and bulls joined the celebrations in Parieng and Akobo.
Since Establishment Order brought celebrations throughout the country, sane people should conclude that it would bring peace the people of South Sudan have been yearning for. If the aim of the Compromised Peace Agreement is to bring peace among the people of South Sudan, it is now consolidated by the Establishment Order. Both the Compromised Peace Agreement and the Establishment Order compliment each other to bring peace in South Sudan.
In conclusion, I am appealing to the international community and G-10 to accept the fact that the Establishment Order is the lubricant that will make the Compromised Peace Agreement to work.
The author is an ambassador at the South Sudanese foreign affairs ministry