The silence by the parties on the appointment of the ministers and State Governors begs questions about the fate of the formation of the Unity Government.
Two civil society organizations and a women’s representative yesterday expressed concern over the delayed appointments and claimed the country was put on hold of essential services to the people who were anxiously waiting for the completion of the unity government formation.
Rajab Mohandis, Executive Director of the Organization for Responsive Governance (ORG) and Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) and Amer Deng of South Sudan Women Bloc commenting separately on the matter, echoed the same sentiments on the pending formation of the new government.
It has been three weeks now since the vice presidents were sworn in, citizens have been waiting for the appointment of the Ministers that would fully complete the formation of the Unity Government.
The activists say the failure by the parties especially the Presidency to update the public on the progress of the nomination was causing worry among the citizens.
Rajab Mohandis said the delay in ministerial allotment was worrying the country since the parties have failed to clarify on the holdup.
“The total silence from the parties and particularly the presidency on the progress of the formation of the government has left citizens at the mercy of rumors and misinformation. And that is of course raising a lot of worries and anxieties among the civil population,” he said.
Mohandis affirmed that such inconsiderable delays were negatively affecting the country at the moment despite all attempts to bring peace to the people.
“You know, people build on the previous experiences. These delays would only be a kind of bringing back the memories and experiences of misunderstanding and confusion among the parties in the past,” he said.
“So we feel that there is a need to ensure that the parties provide information to citizens on the happenings and expedite this process to establish the government and operationalize all organs to ensure that they are able to respond to the needs of the country,” he said.
Edmund Yakani claimed that the silence on the formation of ministers was a bit terrible in the sense that it is giving a vacuum of political leadership.
“Right now, this vacuum has made a lot of challenges, you can see there is insecurity, renewal of unknown gun men activities juba, if you look at Jonglei and Tonj you can see how much it is impacting negatively in terms of security and instability of individuals and community,” he said.
“The government has to be formed quickly, delaying the formation of government is offering political vacuum that is negatively impacting the country. My concern is, politicians are fighting for positions so much and this has made the government to be delayed,” he added.
Amer Deng said the parties should immediately solve their disagreement and fully firm the government.
“We are very patient enough and we are very humble and appreciate the steps that have been taking….the steps theiy have taken is really encouraging is so that there is cracks in the system,” she said
She urge the parties to also consider the 35 per cent affirmative action by appointing of the women.
Mohandis blamed the escalation of the ongoing inter-communal clashes across parts of South Sudan on the failure of unity government formation.
“We are concerned that without set up government and governors in those locations, the power and security vacuums in the States will continue to give room for these incidences to escalate,” he noted.
Source: Juba Monitor