Civil society group in Jonglei state calls for a national referendum on the 28 states
Jonglei Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (JIPDD) calls for a nationwide referendum to decide the fate of the controversial 28 states in South Sudan
From SSB Reporter, Bor, Jonglei state
June 8, 2016 (SSB) — The Jonglei Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (JIPDD), a Bor-based civil society group in Jonglei state, has called for a nationwide referendum as a mean to resolve the controversy over the 28 states in the Republic of South Sudan.
“We are calling upon the international community, the government and people of South Sudan to embrace the verdict of democracy, of the people, instead of a clique of 18-person committee that does not represent the voice and interest of our people at the grassroots,” said Mach Samuel Peter, the executive director for JIPDD.
Mr. Jongkuch Jo Jongkuch, the secretary for information for the JIPDD called upon the international community like Troika, IGAD and African Union to advise the government of South Sudan to conduct immediate referendum on the 28 states in South Sudan.
Jongkuch said it’s the right of the citizens of the Republic of South Sudan to decide either to have 28, 21, 10 or more states; it should not be an order from the president or elsewhere to issue the decree to create more states or reduce the number of states in South Sudan.
“Citizens must go for national referendum because many of them are arguing that they need 28, some need 21, others need 10 or more states in South Sudan, but how can you bring this people together to be united? It is only through democracy; they should go for voting to have one mission on the development of this great nation of South Sudan,” he said.
He said all the current 28 states should be relegated and will be run as administrative areas and the current governors of 28 states should act as chief administrators until the national referendum is conducted and the verdict of the people is known. Jongkuch added that the current ministers of 28 states should go homes and commissioners will act until referendum is concluded.
Jongkuch doubt if the committee that was formed in May 2016 will conduct proper assessment at the grassroots levels because, he said, the committee will be just meeting officials from states capitals and they will not reach to the grassroots interacts with the ordinary citizens on whether they need 28, 21, 10 or more states in South Sudan.
“We the civil society in Jonglei state are appealing to the international community to provide funding and for the transitional government of national unity (TGoNU) to conduct an internationally supervised nationwide referendum without delay so that the world can see the choice of the citizens on the three options of 28, 21, 10 or more states in South Sudan,” Jongkuch appealed.
“In order to break the deadlock and restore peace and stability in our county, we must give chance to democracy, the people themselves must decide the fate of the 10, 21 and 28 states,” concluded Mach Samuel, the executive director of JIPDD.
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