A South Sudanese member of parliament denied on Monday that the house has approved the presidential Establishment Order expanding the constitutionally recognized 10 states to 28 states.
David Mayo, head of the parliamentary committee for finance and economic affairs and a member of parliament from Eastern Equatoria State said in an interview on Monday that the house had only voted to give President Salva Kiir powers to increase or reduce the number of states in the country.
“One thing has not been understood and the media needs to get it correctly so that there is no confusions in the type of messages about the amendment of the constitution which are sent out for public consumption. The National Legislature did not approve the 28 states. It amended the constitution to give room for more states or less. It is now the Council of States to sit down and determine the number of states”, explained David Mayo.
His position differs from that of some other Equatorian MPs who claim that the constitutional amendment was rejected by parliament owing to failure to reach the necessary 2/3 majority. Mayo instead says this amendment was passed but stresses that this does not settle the matter finally.
The legislator was one of the 19 members from the Equatoria region who voted in support of the constitutional amendment and he is an ardent proponent of the creation of more states. The Equatorian caucus itself was divided on the motion, with at least 37 other Equatorian members boycotting the vote in a bid to deny proponents of the motion the required 2/3 majority.
Mayo admitted that the legislation has generated mixed feelings and ignited a debate. “I feel that criticism to construct is healthy because it is part of dialogue but the kind of criticisms which ensued were either driven by the behaviours of people who have never appreciated whatever is done in Juba even when it is in the interest of the people or they did not get the message correctly.”
He said the creation of more states will reduce local tension in some places due to the far distances between existing state headquarters and the people.
Meanwhile, the East African regional bloc IGAD has called the proposal to create 28 states a violation of the peace agreement which the government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) has signed in August to end more than 20 months conflict in the country.