South Sudan’s 28 governors take oath, told to relinquish positions in near future
December 29, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir, witnessed swearing in ceremony of 28 governors he appointed recently, but reminded the governors from states of greater Upper Nile to be ready to leave positions for candidates from the armed opposition faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-IO) when a transitional government will be formed in accordance with a peace deal signed in August been warring parties in the country.
“So your primary responsibility now is that you have to go and make sure that you are in support of the implementation of the agreement which we signed (in August),” said Kiir.
“By appointing you (the 28 state governors), we are being challenged that we are violating the agreement. But I think that we are not violating the agreement. We cannot implement the agreement alone by ourselves; one-sided,” he added, referring to the condemnation from opposition parties and members of the international community.
Kiir said his government and parties that signed the agreement lagged behind the schedule and his decision to create more states was a step forward because “we cannot just be told to sit with our folded arms, not to move forward.”
“The country needs to be moved forward. And this is why we have been struggling to create these institutions of governance so that we move our country forward,” he added.
The President announced establishment order number 36 on 2 October, abolishing 10 states and creating 28 states.
The SPLM-IO and former detainees, the main stakeholders for the agreement signed in August to end 21 months of conflict, condemned the move but the government insisted that the peace is enriched as more states will now be governed by SPLM-IO than only Unity and Upper Nile states.
Kiir said even with the swearing in ceremony in Juba, the SPLM-IO and other stakeholders in the peace agreement will be welcomed to govern states curved out of Unity and Upper Nile states, making them six in total.
He said the peace deal mediated by the East African regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), was not negotiated by parties to the conflict and does not address many issues.
“We will sit down and dialogue with them and we put this in a correct perspective. The agreement was not negotiated by the parties to the agreement like we did in the CPA,” he said, referring to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed with Khartoum and Southern Sudanese rebels, the SPLM in 2005.
“So it (agreement) was done by those who think they thought better than us, according to their assumption. They think that there is nothing good that we can do but they [are] who know best what we want and they warned that take it as it is. So we accepted,” he said without mentioning any country.
He warned the state governors against large government, saying “our economy is bad. Your government will be lean and the same all over the states.”
“You have to work hard to raise local resources,” he said.
Kiir said the states curved out of Unity and Upper Nile states will be given to the SPLM-IO and asked the governors to “bear with us because we have to implement the agreement.”
The new states in former Unity and Upper Nile states are Eastern Nile, Western Nile, Ruweng, Northern Lich, Southern Lich, Western Bieh, Eastern Bieh and Latjor states.
While the opposition will take governorship and 40% of the executive power sharing ratio, they will only get the 40% without governor for the four states from Jonglei.
(ST)