September 9th 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – More than 55 per cent of South Sudanese people prefers the return of the country from the current controversial thirty-two (32) states to the initial ten states provided for in the country’s Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan 2011, a new survey have revealed.
South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir Mayadiit on October 2nd 2015 issued an executive order known as the Establishment Order dividing the country into 28 states. The order which breached the 2015 peace agreement was met by a wide international condemnation from the world powers including the United States.
In January 2017, President Salva Kiir further divided up the country to add yet another four states including the Abyei Area and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area despite the uproar caused by the first 28.
In an online survey conducted by the Nyamilepedia for a period of 10 days starting from August 31st to September 9th, involving 59 people, with 95% of them aged 28-45, 55.93 per cent of the South Sudanese surveyed said they want the return of the country to the initial ten states.
They believes that the country, under the current economic situation cannot afford to provide the many states created while their other concern is the legality of the order because the President and the government of South Sudan did not consulted the people in addition to the conflict it creates between tribes.
28.81% of the people surveyed by the Nyamilepedia said they prefer the 21 federal states created by Machar which were rejected by the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit during the first phase of the South Sudan peace talks in Ethiopia in 2014 while 10.17% percent said they want to keep the current controversial thirty-two states and 5.08% of them said they are undecided.
The issue of the states has been one of the most sticking points at the ongoing talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and a consensus has not yet been reached by the South Sudanese parties.
