The Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) has objected the proposal of relocating the capital city of South Sudan from Juba to Ramciel.

In an interview script seen by City Review, CEPO Executive Director Edmund Yakani said the idea is motivated by an intention to avoid the federal system of government by the incumbent regime.

“The motivation is about moving away from a federal system to a centralised one,” Yakani told Vice News. “Juba, the current capital, and Equatoria are places where they believe strongly in federalism. Federalism gives people in low-level, local government a voice. That is what our country needs,” Yakani added.

Yakani said the idea is also flawed as the proposal seeks a reposition of the capital from a densely populated region to a sparsely populated one where social amenity services are far less needed.

“The idea is to escape the federal system. But most of the population is so far from Juba where everything gets done, everyone lives in the countryside,” Yakani said.

Fears of status quo

Yakani warned that moving the capital city to Ramciel reminisces about a return to Khartoum.

“It’s become like the old relationship between the south and Khartoum. We risk repeating the culture of Khartoum by moving our capital and centralising,” he said.

“Ethnicity becomes a kind of strength in accessing the political centre,” he warned. “It becomes a dominant factor in terms of politics and administering the state”.

While Yakani concedes that the project was ideal, he says the timing is wrong for a country struggling to piece up its infrastructure.  

“It’s an ambitious project, but it comes at a moment when the country lacks industrialisation in order to have its own domestic production, to be able to respond to the basic needs of its citizens,” Yakani was quoted.

He added that: “Instead of wasting this money, I’d rather see the money spent on industrialisation so the country can provide for itself.”

Yakani is one of the few citizens opposed to the proposal of relocating the capital to Ramciel. His sentiments came after the Vice President for Infrastructure Cluster Taban Deng Gai revealed that the plan to relocate the capital city was still on course.