Parties agree on responsibility sharing ratio in states

Parties to the September 2018 peace agreement on Monday agreed on the responsibility sharing ratio at state and local government levels, after weeks of protracted talks in Juba.

Parties to the September 2018 peace agreement on Monday agreed on the responsibility sharing ratio at state and local government levels, after weeks of protracted talks in Juba.

According to Article 1.16.1 of the revitalized peace deal, the Incumbent Transitional Government of National Unity (I-TGoNU) gets 55 percent, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) gets 27 percent, South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) 10 percent, and Other Political Parties (OPP) eight percent.

The agreement on the responsibility sharing says there shall be 10 deputy state governors.

President Salva Kiir’s side has three deputy governors, Dr. Riek Machar’s SPLM-IO party got three deputy governors, SSOA will nominate one, while OPP has three deputy governors.

According to the deal, there will be five advisors for each state government.

The president’s side will nominate three advisors, while the SPLM-IO and SSOA shall nominate one each.

The parties to the peace agreement also agreed on 17 ministers for each state. Kiir’s party has nine ministers, SPLM-IO five ministers, SSOA two ministers and one minister from the OPP.

The agreement says there shall be 10 state assembly speakers, five to be nominated by the president’s side, three speakers from the SPLM-IO, one to be nominated by SSOA and OPP has one speaker.

There shall be two chief whips per state, one appointed by the former government and one by the SPLM-IO.

The parties also agree to appoint 51 members of parliament in the country’s 10 states.

President Kiir will appoint 28 state MPs, Machar’s SPLM-IO has 14 state MPs, while SSOA will nominate 5 state MPs and OPP with 4 state MPs.

The parties agreed to appoint six chairpersons for commissions for each state.

The previous government will nominate three chairpersons, SPLM-IO has two chairpersons and SSOA with one chairperson.

They also agreed to appoint 35 members of the County Councils.

The former government has 19 councilors, SPLM-IO will nominate 9 councilors, SSOA with four, and OPP has three councilors.

The agreement also includes chairpersons of the specialized committees and their deputies.

Interior Minister Paul Mayom signed on behalf of the former government, Henry Odwar on behalf of the SPLM-IO, Gabriel Changson on behalf of SSOA and Peter Mayen on behalf of OPP.

Albino Akol Atak, Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC) party, and coordinator of OPP confirmed the responsibility-sharing agreement to Radio Tamazuj.

He said the agreement met some of their demands for political participation in the states. "Yes, we are with the agreement, but there we have some reservations about the process of power-sharing. We were waiting for the responsibility sharing to happen, but the process was done according to state percentages, that’s why OPP got fewer positions," said Akol.