President Salva Kiir in a group photo with governors (some of whom have since been removed) after the end of 5th Governors' Forum on Monday Nov. 29, 2021 | Credit | Office of the President

Civil society activist Ter Manyang Gatwech has voiced skepticism over the significance of upcoming 8th Governors Forum, saying past forums adopted a long list of recommendations that were not implemented.

The Governors’ Forum is an annual event organized since 2016 by the Office of the President with support from UNDP and other partners on policies that touch on the humanitarian, peace and development nexus.

This year’s forum is set to take place on November 26 under the theme is “Forging Sustainable Peace: Committed Action in the Extended R-ARCSS Transition” and governors and chief administrators already touched down in Juba for the event.

But the Executive Director of Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA) Ter Manyang said the annual discussions aimed to foster national cohesion and set the country on a path to a peaceful transition toward democratic governance, has however yielded little to no benefit.

“There is a problem either within the office of the President or among ten Governors and three Administrators regarding the implementation of the resolutions from the 6th and 7th Governor’s Forums,” he said.

“In 2022, the Governors were tasked with implementing peace initiatives to foster reconciliation among the divided people of South Sudan. However, none of them have implemented any of the resolutions from these forums.”

Manyang said the forum should not serve as a platform where government officials “waste significant amounts of money” and fail to provide meaningful resolutions that benefit ordinary citizens.

He however suggested that the upcoming event should deliberate and adopt concrete actions on the recent extension of the transitional government’s tenure, security arrangements, the economy, the constitutional-making process, and the next elections.

Other tasks are population census, repatriation of South Sudanese refugees from neighboring countries, as well as the resettlement of tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).

“Political elites must honor their words and actions to earn the trust of the people on national issues. The majority of South Sudanese are subjected to extreme poverty due to the lack of job opportunities created by the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU),” Manyang said.

“Without decent jobs, national security is at risk, as many young people are likely to contribute to instability in the country.”

The activist further urged the presidency to revisit the resolution from the 6th and 7th Governor’s Forum in collaboration with civil society organizations in the country.