They said more powers had been centralised than before at the expense of the states and the administrative areas and that their hands had been tied up

By Opio Jackson

Several experts and State government officials at the recently concluded fourth high-level forum on fiscal devolution and revenue management in Juba have raised concerns over the level of power being controlled by the central government.

They said more powers had been centralised than before at the expense of the states and the administrative areas and that their hands had been tied up.  

The three-day forum organized by the Council of States with support from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and the United Nations Development Programme brought all together participants from government agencies, line ministries, and state governors.

In his opening speech, Eastern Equatoria State Governor Louis Lobong Lojore said it was an opportunity for them to come together to deliberate on how they could manage their resources.

However, he said this was not the first time they had talked about managing their resources.

“This is not the first time we are calling about the devolution of powers to the states. We have talked about this in several forums and there has been no implementation of the resolutions,” Lobong said.

He highlighted that the power has been centralized more than before the assigning of the revitalized peace agreement.

“The R-ACISS came up with more powers being centralized at the national government. There have been a lot of violations of the constitution and nobody talks about it,” he stated.

Governor Lobong called for the respect of the level of government that has been established.

Meanwhile, a representative from Central Equatoria State who represented Governor Augustino Jadalla said, the constitution of South Sudan is very clear but its implementation has always been a problem.

Quoting from the Bible verse, the person said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

“What belongs to the State must be given to the States, and it is not right when the national government comes and overrule us.”

She unveiled that Central Equatoria State has had several dialogues with the National Revenue Authority Commission, but the implementation of the resolutions has always been zero.

Also, other participants have echoed the same sentiment, saying the state government and the administrative areas have a lot of responsibility as they deal directly with the citizens regarding service delivery.

They called on the devolution of power to enable the states to provide the needed services to their citizens.

In this forum, the participants were expected to deliberate and validate the policy recommendations and resolutions from the previous High-level Conference and consult with stakeholders on fiscal federalism given conflict management between and among the oil revenue-generating states and communities and non-oil producing states in the would-be federal country.

“What belongs to the State must be given to the States, and it is not right when the national government comes and overrule us,” a representative from Central Equatoria State