Vice-president says federal system best for governing South Sudan

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Vice-president says federal system best for governing South Sudan

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June 4, 2013 (JUBA) – Federalism is the best system of governance for
South Sudan, said the country’s vice-president, Riek Machar, who
further advocated for creation of more states in the country.

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South Sudan’s vice-president, Riek Machar (Reuters)

Currently the 21-month old nation has inherited 10 states from the
former Sudan which are based on a decentralized system of governance;
a shadow of federalism, but which has fallen short of implementing the
governing system the region demanded since 1948 from colonial and
successive regimes of the former Sudan.

Federal system, unlike mere decentralisation, is a constitutional
arrangement in which the sovereignty of the nation is divided between
the national and state governments and provides for a stronger degree
of autonomy to various levels of government including fiscal,
administrative and political aspects of governance.

The current decentralised system in South Sudan, to a certain degree,
has focused on political autonomy ignoring the administrative and
fiscal aspects that are addressed in a federal arrangement.

Machar in various public occasions this week said an empowered federal
system would provide autonomous powers and encourage the sense of
accountability in the various levels of government, adding it would
also help remove the fears of marginalization and promote nationalism
and unity among the 65 diverse tribes of South Sudan.

He also said the principle of taking towns to the people by the ruling
party, SPLM, can be realized through creation of more administrative
units.

The 10 states were established in 1993 by the current regime in
Khartoum under president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, but Machar said it
would be necessary to create more states and counties for better
service delivery.

The country’s Vice President, also deputy chairman of the ruling SPLM,
further suggested it would be possible to transform the former 22 old
districts, established under the British colonial administration, into
new states to serve the purpose.

South Sudan with the territory equivalent to the size of Uganda, Kenya
and Tanzania combined, the region’s 10 states currently have 79
counties (districts) in total but Machar advocated that these should
be increased to over 170.

Advocating for urbanisation of the rural populations, he added that a
better way to achieve this is by creating more administrative units
and assemble populations in such new centres or towns closer to the
people, in order to provide them with basic services and road
connectivity.

By so doing he said this would also provide space for the government
to establish ranch-lands and dairy farms for the region’s 31 million
cattle as well as gazette sufficient lands for huge agricultural
schemes in the rural setup.

Federalism also provides the spirit of healthy competitions between
states and encourages proper management of states’ respective
resources including development of human resources.

As a federalist, the vice-president believes that the proliferation of
decision-making units at state and local levels can strengthen public
policy-making and encourage creative solutions to tough challenges.

(ST)