Minister urges gov’t to adopt federalism as governance system

JUBA – A senior government official of South Sudan’s Central Equatoria state is calling on the parties to the revitalized peace agreement to adopt federalism as the system of governance in the country saying other forms of governance systems have failed to achieve peace.

Speaking to Sudans Post in an exclusive interview, Gerald Francis Nyukuye, the minister for peace-building of Central Equatoria state said he believes federalism can put an end to conflicts resulting from an unequal distribution of power and resources.

“South Sudan is going through many political dimensions and as we said, we have tried another type of System called decentralized and during national dialogue; many communities said it is time for a federal system, Trying federalism is not also a crime and I am sure it is an inspiration of the people of South Sudan,” Nyukuye told Sudans Post.

“When we were in Sudan, we tried the unitary system and now in South Sudan we have tried a decentralized system and it is not also a crime to try a new system like what people are calling federalism,” he added.

He argued that federalism is preconditioned for managing the country peacefully.

“There is a difference between decentralization and federalism. The difference is in federalism, you will have three organs of the government as an executive, legislature, and judiciary in the state but in a decentralized system, we only have organs at the national level. We don’t have judiciary at state levels,”

He argued that federalism good for the country since it constitutionally guaranteed devolution of power from the center to regional units or states and representation of these in the central government.

“With Federal system, we can have a presidential type of governance that can give more powers to the states and lower level of governance,” he stated.

“In the decentralized system, we can’t be able to recruit police but in the federal system, each state will be given the power to recruit its own police, fire brigade, wildlife, and prison,” he added.

He explained that federalism does not mean Kokora but said that it is a way of bringing government closer to the people will also ensure that social services and public decisions are better matched to local needs and enhance the efficiency.

“Federalism does not mean Kokora, it is just devolution of powers to a lower level. This is a mean of federalism,”

“It does not mean that if we become a federal state, each community should go their own area. That one is not in federalism, it is just a misconception by those people who are against this system, are just trying to politicize and mix things up to confuse people,” he added.