Edmund Yakani said the forum, even though is commissioned by the presidency, has had the tendency of failing to implement recommendations and resolutions passed.

By James Chatim

Expectations are higher as the 8th Governors’ Forum kicks off today in Juba at Freedom Hall. At least all the governors from South Sudan’s ten states and administrators from the three administrative areas are expected to converge in Juba to discuss country’s affairs and citizens’ welfare.

Speaking ahead of the event, Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said the forum should nurture genuine intergovernmental linkages to reach consensus on matters of service delivery, development, governance, peace, and security.

Yakani said this platform, even though is commissioned by the presidency, has had the tendency of failing to implement recommendations and resolutions passed.

The activist called for a detailed and accurate report on the past seven governors’ forums held, as well as their resolutions and recommendations.

Yakani warned that leaders should not take the voice of civil society negatively and take disputes as the call is a mere demand for accountability.

“Our serious concern about this particular platform, which is commissioned by the presidency annually, is that always its recommendations and resolutions are not delivered. And sometimes people take a negative position on our opinion, demanding accountability on the implementation of the resolutions and the recommendations of the governors’ forum,” he stated.

“Now we are going for the eighth forum and we need to see clearly a serious demonstration of how the Seventh Governors Forum resolutions and recommendations were delivered. So, we need an account of a detailed report, accurate report on the previous seventh governors’ recommendations and resolutions implementation.”

On a positive note, the activist commended the Office of the President for inviting civil society to contribute to constructive dialogue.

Yakani said they will continue to call for commitment and reform on the way governors’ forum resolutions and recommendations are often handled.

He further appealed to the president to commission a concrete decision on the implementation of the adapted governors’ forum and recommendations.

 “As we are going to have on Tuesday the opening, this is our message to His Excellency the President who commissioned the Governors Forum that is run annually: We need your address to commission a concrete decision on how the implementation of the adapted Governors’ Forum and recommendations should be implemented. We need to see a mechanism of monitoring and evaluation or for tracking state Governors and Chief Administrators in implementing these recommendations, including national ministries for instance, like National Ministry of Finance, that have the responsibility for the issue of generation of revenue for raising money for service delivery for our citizens at the state’s level.”

He suggested that if there is any mechanism, they need representation of civil society in tracking the implementation.

“We are accurately convinced that state governors and chief administrators and the council of ministers at the state level, at the administrative level, and even some national ministers and specifically national institutions like Revenue Authority, like Ministry of Finance, their level of taking recommendations of the Governors Forum into reality is not serious. We have seen reluctance and lack of commitment in delivering,” Yakani explained.

The Governor’s Forum is an annual event organized since 2006 by the Office of the President with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) among other partners, on policies that touch on the humanitarian, peace and development nexus.

The Forum is the highest policy platform that brings together policy actors to South Sudan’s capital Juba, to deliberate on a wide range of policy issues around governance and democratic principles.