South Sudan peace body urges to appoint state governors

March 28, 2020 (JUBA) – The revitalized peace implementation oversight body, RJMEC, Saturday urged the South Sudanese parties to expedite the appointment of state governors and local governments.

The power-sharing process at the level of state governors is stalled over a claim by SPLM-IG of President Kiir to be allocated six of the ten governors, while the other peace parties say it should take only five positions.

In a bid to break the deadlock, Augustino S.K. Njoroge, the Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) convened a consultative meeting of the parties to the peace pact on Friday 27th March.

Njoroge “commended the Parties for the compromises that they have made so far leading to the formation of the RTGoNU and urged them to continue with the spirit of collegiality during the Transitional Period and beyond,” said a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

He “also reminded the Parties of the cardinal principles upon which the R-ARCSS is anchored, which include inclusivity, equity, peace and reconciliation, collegiality, relationship and trust-building, justice and fairness, among others,” further said the statement.

The meeting took place upon a request by FVP Riek Machar who is also SPLM/A-IO leader for the assistance of the RJMEC to break a deadlock on the modalities of responsibility sharing as provided for in the revitalized peace agreement.

In line with the peace agreement, the power-sharing ratio at State and local government levels shall be TGoNU: 55%; SPLM/A-IO: 27%, SSOA: 10%, OPP: 08%. This means that the SPLM-IG should get five governors, SPLM-IO three governors and one governor for the SSOA and OPP.

However, the SPLM-IG claims that the government’s 5.5 number of States should be made six, pointing that its share should be more than the parties.

Observers in Juba wonder why the SPLM-IG of President Kiir insists on the 6 governors because it has five members in the Independent Boundaries Committee and the National Pre-Transitional Committee and that this situation is not different from the others.

Also, arithmetically, the SPLM-IO with its 2.7 and OPP with its 0.8 are more qualified for rounding up to three and one respectively than the SPLM-IG with its 5.5.

(ST)