The governor of Jonglei State Philip Aguer Panyang said the recent motion passed by lawmakers to divide the state into two separate states needs a wider consultation process.

“I think the consultation process needs to be much wider. We have to first have aconsultation among people in the constituencies before it is referred to the executive,” Governor Aguer told Radio Tamazuj today.

“The parliamentarians have the rights to raise a motion but they are not the final decision makers, so this issue needs be accepted at the constituency level,” he added.

The state official pointed out that the motion passed by the state parliament will be referred to the state headquarters at any time soon. “We will look into the legal aspect of it. We will look into the provisions that give the parliament powers to deliberate on such issues,” he said.

Jonglei state lawmakers last week unanimously passed a motion to divide the state into Jonglei and Bor states with headquarters in Panyagoor and Bor respectively.