Opposition Threatens To Boycott Kiir’s Constitution Meeting South Sudanese opposition parties have threatened to boycott a meeting called by the President of the Government of Southern Sudan over endorsement of the South Sudan transitional constitution. 28 April 2011 Opposition Threatens To Boycott Kiir’s Constitution Meeting Mr. Onyoti Nyikwech Adigo, opposition leader speaking to Gurtong [©Gurtong]
By Waakhe Simon Wudu JUBA, 27th April, 2011 [Gurtong] - South Sudanese opposition parties have threatened to boycott a meeting called by the President of the Government of Southern Sudan over endorsement of the South Sudan transitional constitution. The meeting which is scheduled to take place amidst this week in which heads of South Sudanese political parties are to meet at J-One to endorse the draft constitution, the opposition have written a letter demanding Kiir to clarify points that would allow them meet to endorse the draft. Mr. Onyoti Nyikwech Adigo is the leader of the opposition parties in the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, SSLA and senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change, SPLM_DC. Speaking to the Gurtong on Tuesday in an interview, he said that, the opposition demanded President Kiir who is also the Chairperson of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, SPLM to clarify for them issues which were not addressed during the amendment of the constitutional draft. “We wrote a letter to Dr. Riek Machar that we want an assurance that if all of us came to the conference, will there be discussions on power sharing and transitional period of 18 months,” Onyoti disclosed. He stressed that, unless the president assured the opposition of the two issues, the opposition will not agree to come to the table to discuss on the constitution. Onyoti referred to the already amended constitution a “one party, SPLM constitution” if inclusivity of the opposition is not considered. The opposition said that, the draft constitution had not indicated as to how much power sharing is the ruling party, SPLM going to share with the opposition. The opposition demanded a 50-50 power sharing agreement. He added that, the constitution indicates that, SPLM will be ruling for four more years, as a transitional period, which the opposition rejected, demanding that, the transitional period be 18 months or two years. The constitution indicates that, decentralization will be the system of the Republican Government of Southern Sudan, while the opposition opted for a federal system of governance. Fruitless efforts by the President to respond to the demands of the opposition will menace democratic endorsement of the constitution draft. “If SPLM did not reply, the opposition will not attend the meeting,” affirmed Onyoti. Some Members of the opposition parties pulled out during the amendment of the draft constitution exercise, as they accused SPLM of violating principles on the review process. Posted in: Home Comments RSS comment feed 29/04/2011, 4:37 AM - Posted by HD Afadier Hey !hey !, power sharing power sharing.................... I'm tired of this rubbish. Which power? in South Sudan and if any, with whom do you it to share with?.This "transitional" constitution even if I do not agree with most of its provisions in fact they are technical loopholes Not ideological clash, clearly states; the party with majority of electoral votes form the "government". And the legislature( the two houses of parliament), the National Legislative Assembly and the Council of States are again composed of "elected "representatives on the basis of party/ies ticket like your self, although i disagree partly with the provision that says; 20 amongst the Council of states will be appointed by the president. But the constitution is tilted"transitional". While i do agree with the notion of the transitional period being finite, 18 months of this opposition claims is just bull shit. how long did it GOSS to establish and build institutions from crash. you must know that even the names change to the Republic of South Sudan, what was built on the name "of the GOSS will not be scrapped. SO, Why do you want to share some thing you lost, PRESUMABLY against a competitor? I'm talking hypothetically i do mean either of your parties. The so called opposition parties in South Sudan must not hold the war-traumatized people of South Sudan hostage against their will. They must know, fighting the government of Khartoum as a southerner is one thing. And fighting GOSS as a southerner is another. You must tell us where do you belong?. For your claims to be justifiable, all what you need to do as "opposition" is to ask the constitutional editors to approve "shadow government" only at executive level. If that is all your 50-50 ratio entails, then you must be clear. But there is also a need to trim down the number of political parties to not more than two. Multi party system is not healthy in a region where one easily mobilized a section of the society on the basis of tribe and call himself "opposition". How can you get away with it? HD Afadier 29/04/2011, 9:09 AM - Posted by HD Afadier Power sharing! power sharing!. Which power in south Sudan? and if any, with whom do you want it share with?.that is bull shit. What is needed in south Sudan is"who can create power" and that is the mandated that the south Sudanese people mandated entrusted Gen. Salva Kiir and Mr Riek Machar with. I think the so-called opposition parties in South Sudan do not really know what the war-traumatized people of south Sudan really need. Neither of them is a true representative of them and are holding them hostage further. the oppositions in south Sudan must know fighting Khartoum government as a southerner is one thing. And fighting the GOSS as a southerner is another. You must tell us where do you belong? The Transitional constitution even if i disagree with them of its provisions, clearly states; the party with majority of electoral votes form the "government". The two houses of parliament(the National Legislative Assembly and the Council of states) are primarily composed of elected representatives, although their is a contradiction that 20 of the state councillors will be appointed by the president. HD Afadier -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
