Jonglei Watch: Power Sharing Outlined
4 min readBy Malith Alier, Juba, South Sudan
October 12, 2015 (SSB) — With the advent of further decentralisation some states now scramble to set up new administrations in a way that must be seen to be fair by people of that particular area.
Jonglei state has given birth to three other states including Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA). GPAA was a quasi state after it signed agreement with the Government of South Sudan in May 2014 which granted it self-rule.
The receding Jonglei now consists of three Counties of Duk, Twic East and Bor. The departure of the other county members of the old Jonglei means that there will be a major structure of the power, economy and other aspects in the receding state “mother Jonglei.”
The people of mother Jonglei on Saturday 10 October met in Juba to deliberate on how to allocate the top most positions in the state. The top most posts are that of Governor, Speaker of the State Assembly and Deputy Governor.
The political and social strategists carried the day. They successfully argued that the top position of the governor goes to people of Twic East County because in the past this position was held by the other two Counties. Thon Leek from Duk was the first governor from 2005 to 2007. Kuol Manyang from Bor County took over from Thon Leek from 2007 to 2013. On the same pretext, the other two Counties will share the other remaining two posts.
The adoption of such arrangement is to reduce marginalisation assumption that may create tension and disunity among the people of Jonglei. In the past or in particular during 2010 election, competing candidates caused polarisation between their communities and those of the other candidates.
Consensus versus full pledged competition
Many people in the area prefer consensus as opposed to the cutthroat competition such as of 2010 election period. They reckon that stiff competition causes long term animosities which may last for decades. However, this is what modern democracy thrusts on us. Democracy is the will of majority. The consensus mode of choosing leaders we see is not necessarily the will of majority.
Some dominant voices in the community may eventually prevail and people may erroneously refer to it as the will of the people. This was the case when officials from GPAA were maintained in Jonglei against the will of the majority. It was a small clique in Juba who decided that they remained in Bor for no good reasons other than their personal interests.
As the game in Jonglei is set in motion questions remain on how this is going to go down to the appointment of state ministers, advisors, directors general and further to the lower levels of the government. This is so because people will be calling for their share; a syndrome some people called “our turn to eat.”
The people in Jonglei called this mode of selection or awarding leadership positions “traditional system.” It remains to be seen whether it will continue during elections in three years to come. The rules for democratic elections are always based on competition when some aspirants who are not backed by parties may opt to stand on their own as independents.
Advantages of consensus method
- Reduces tension
- avails leadership chance to minor
- based on fairness and equity
Disadvantages
- Deprives majority will
- May be a draw back on democracy
- May limit necessary leadership skills from particular section
- Creates sense of entitlement because if clan so and so has taken this our clan should take that.
The mode of selection above should be a temporary measure. People should not be afraid of competition because this is when people campaign on real policies but not it is our turn which is a non-starter.
All the elective positions like governor, Commissioner, Mayor, Councillors should be competed for based on implementable policies. Real politick is what to go for.
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