Governor Adil won’t reverse his decree violating the Peace Agreement

“Governor Adil’s appointment of the director generals was made based on technicality, grades and hierarchy of the individuals as forwarded to the governor by the Public Service Ministry.” Says the press secretary.

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN: Earlier this week, Central Equatoria state Governor Emmanuel Adil issued a gubernatorial order appointing 17 director generals to the state ministries, only one was a female.

Many civil activists and women groups across the country were angered by the governor’s decision saying the appointments did not consider the 35 Percent women representation stipulated in the Revitalized Agreement of the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

The South Sudanese Women Intellectuals Forum (SSWIF) in particular wrote to the governor asking him to reconsider his decision by reverting the decree to accommodate more female director generals.

The SSWIF says appointing one woman falls short of the required women representation in the government appointments as stipulated in the Peace Agreement.

They requested the Governor to reconsider the Decree and fulfill the required 35 percent affirmative action to include more women because Central Equatoria has thousands of qualified women who are capable of delivering the needed services if given the chance to hold offices.

Unfortunately, that won’t happen. Governor Adil will only reconsider women representation in his next appointments, according to Derick Derickson, Central Equatoria state Press Secretary. He says Adil’s appointment of the director generals was made based on technicality, grades and hierarchy of the individuals as forwarded to the governor by the Public Service Ministry.

“The Governor is trying hard to bring as many women as possible to participate in the state transitional government.” Derickson wrote in a press statement Thursday.