Western Equatoria politician ‘demands for federalism’
A member of the Western Equatoria Legislature says Equatorians ‘demand for federal governance,’ a system in which sovereign powers are divided between federal and state governments.
Daniel Isbone Zingifuaboro, who is also state minister of local government and law enforcement, stresses that this does not mean division of the country but only division of powers within the government.
Isbone told Bakhita Radio Wake Up talk show in Juba on Wednesday that Equatorians are demanding for federalism. He explained that this would entail a devolution of powers from the national to the state governments.
The legislator says he opposes the current system of government in which power is centred on the central government.
Nominally the South Sudanese government is ‘decentralized’ but in reality the national government in Juba has wide-ranging powers over state and even local governments. Four of the ten state governors, for example, are appointees of the president and were not elected.
MP Isbone said Equatorians are advocating for states to manage their own affairs.
He also called on citizens not to misinterpret the meaning of federalism, saying it does not mean separation of tribes from each other in their respective states.
President Salva Kiir Mayardit while opening National Legislative Assembly on Monday warned that the demand for federal governance was not really workable.
He said the call for federalism was a pretext used by his rival SPLM/A-in-Opposition leader Dr Riek Machar Teny to divide the country internally.
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