Unity State stakeholders in the ongoing consultation on federalization process in South Sudan in Bentiu Town of Unity State. (Photo: Ministry of Federal Affairs.)

Unity State participants at the consultation and civic education on federalism have recommended a Cooperative Federal System of Governance in the country, a lawmaker moderating the consultation said.

On Wednesday, July 26, the Minister of Federal Affairs, Losuba Ludoru Wongo, and his delegation concluded a two-day consultative meeting in Unity state’s capital, Bentiu.

The meeting was attended by state government officials, including advisors, ministers, members of parliament, and representatives from the state’s seven counties.

Other stakeholders are people with disabilities, representatives of civil society groups, faith-based groups, women, and youth, among others.

According to Paulino Lukudu Obede – a member of the Council of States, the Unity State participants in the consultation meeting recommended that the country should adopt a cooperative system of governance.

“We have two days here today in Unity state, Bantiu in particular, holding consultation and dissemination about the federalism and they have recommended for a cooperative federal system of governance,” Lukudu explained in an interview with Eye Radio.

“So, the people of Unity state are for a cooperative federal system of governance.”

Cooperative Federal System of Governance is a fundamental philosophy of government that enshrines the deconcentration of power to other spheres of government and encompasses the structures of government as well as the organization and exercising of political power.

“People are in the lower levels of the government, but sometimes they don’t have power over the resources, they don’t have the political power to administer the state, sometimes they request for the approval of some powers from Juba,” Lukudu said further.

Unity is the second state to recommend Cooperative Federalism after Western Equatoria State, after Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, which supported federalism but did not specify the form of governance system.

In February this year, the Minister of Federal Affairs reaffirmed that South Sudan would transition into a federal system of governance at the end of the current transitional period.

Losuba Ludoru said, after the general elections, a new government shall operate within a federal constitution.

He added that the unity government would use the current structure of governance to transition the country into federalism.

According to him, the federal system will differ in how different areas use their resources and how they also organize politically in order to achieve the really needed services.

The Federal Policy provides a guiding tool that has the principal direction of the federal system that South Sudan is expected to adopt during the Constitution making.

The document also highlighted the principle of federalism such as the devolution of administrative powers, political organization and arrangement within the federal system, and the physical aspect of federation such as resource distributions at a different level of government.

Under a federal-presidential system of government, the president serves both as head of state and head of government while the country keeps the current set-up of the national government, where there are 3 main branches: the executive, legislative, and judiciary.

However, instead of centralizing power with the national government, the country could have individual states with their own federal legislature and state governments.

Under this model, national concerns would be addressed by the federal government under the president.

These include national security, monetary policy, and foreign relations, among others.

Domestic or state issues, meanwhile, will be handled by state governments.

Countries that have a federal-presidential system of government include the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, and Nigeria, among others.