The Dissimilarity Between Proposed 21 Federal States Of I.O And Newly 28 States Decree Of Government.

By Tap Tap Gatluak Thon,

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June 4, 2016(Nyamilepedia) —— It seems many South Sudanese citizens worldwide misunderstood the difference between 21 Federal States that were proposed by the SPLM I.O leadership and the poorly “imposed” 28 states decreed of Salva Kiir. While many differ in opinions, both sides are claiming that they are all Federal states but this is not true. My dear fellow citizens of the beloved nation of south Sudanese, you have to distinguish what has potentials to benefit and what has potentials to destroy.

You cannot own a house without bearing its full responsibilities.

Compared to ethnically driven 28 states of Kiir, the proposed twenty one Federal States have potentials to restore hopes and meets aspirations of a stable South Sudan. Federalism entails political power being exercised by both national and sub-national governments and this is what the 21 states are capable of. Sub-national governments are subject to considerable variation. A key distinction concerns the autonomy that such units enjoy.

In federal states such as Germany, Australia or America, power is divided between national [or federal} government and the constituent units of government. The division of responsibilities is provided for in single source, usually a written constitution, which allocates specific functions to each sphere of government. Each enjoys autonomy in its own area of jurisdiction, which means that one may not intrude into the operations of the other.

The proposed twenty-one federal states by the SPLM I.O are not just being proposed without identifying its inimical and positivity, the fact is that they are based on the former districts of southern provinces of the Anglo- Egyptian colonial Rule in Sudan btewen 1899- 1956. These districts or states have clearly identified boundaries.

As clearly stated:”Base on No 3.1 of the Manifesto of SPLM/ A I.O system of federalism. The federal system of governance is the best way of sharing political power and wealth in our country. Therefore in order to achieve social, political and economic transformation, full implementation of federalism is critical, especially the devolution of resources to the lower levels of governments. This shall ensure that the distribution of income in the economy leaves purchasing power in the hands of the common man / woman and at the same time enable even distribution of economic development and national income among persons , group of persons and regions to avoid creation or emergence of separate development and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few or in particular regions. Establishment of federalism as the system of governance shall be:

• Empower the national, state and local levels of government to have their own executive, legislature and judicial organs.
• Empower the states and local government to have their own local forces { police, correctional service , wildlife and Civil Defense } and deliver basic services in education , health, communication, infrastructure services, etc;
• Empower the states and local governments, through devolution of powers to , exercise concurrent powers in developing natural resources such as mining , energy, oil and gas , agriculture , forestry, animal resources , fisheries and public utilities .”

The 28 states on the other hand were decreed by Salva kiir based on emotions and as aspired by tribal hegemony. This tribal enclaves have zero federalism in them but centralized tribalism. Let no one blind- fool you that they are federal states with possibility of bringing servicess closer to the people. In fact these states cannot even guarantee the interest of the tribal Jieng Council of Elders leave alone the already suffering minorities from the Jieng rule.

Contrary, they can only intensified and bring tribal conflict closer to the people because majority of those states have no clear boundaries. This is just an incitement that could cause permanent conflict among different ethnic groups in South Sudan.

These are the states that never existed in any country because they can never meet the aspiration of the people since they are meant to alienate lands from other tribes to the Dinka. It took Africans many years to disposed and claimed their land from colonial mastered but they eventually did. It was going to be a matter of time, the Jieng rule was going to be ended peacefully or forcefully and the land was going to be returned to the rightful owners.

The central government failed to provide adequate services to ten states despite that there were billions of oil revenues and billions from donors who wanted to see South Sudan proper, how could the same incompetence leader wake up overnight and expect to transform 28 states with their huge administrations in a volatile situation like today? For more than 10 years, Kiir government failed to build even a single road leave alone developing  infrastructure across country, what do you think he would achieve through twenty eight states? Would these states strived for their own development without  requiring assistance from the central government?

Dear citizens put in mind that in our country the services are administered by full-time officers who may put their professional interests above the requirements of those they views as their ‘clients’ and also in our country , the political power is centralized within a local authority so that power is wielded by a handful of people.

This has the effect of making the local government seem remote and an approachable to ordinary people. To confront and address theses expostulation that are beyond our control, we need a new political ideology especially we the civilians and organizations to usher in a socio-economic paradigm shift capable of rendering rapid development through competitiveness in the production of social goods and knowledge.

Due to lack of unification in political ideologies and an insufficient organizational capacity, our country is on its knees due to incapables Sultans who are enriching themselves at the expense of the poor civil population.

Inclusion, my fellow citizens let us call on self-reliance, economic self-sufficiency, balance of rural development and not to advocate the iron-triangle couple which inherited negative effects of colonial legacy and bears the relics of centuries of socio-economic and cultural underdevelopment manifested in abject poverty, ignorance and propensity to ethnic and regional autochthonism as survival instincts.

The author is concern south Sudanese citizen residing in the Arab Republic of Egypt and can be reach at g mail: michael8222tap@gmail.com   

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