Juba, Southern Sudan, October 2 2008 - The 6th Governors’ Forum of Southern Sudan wraps up today with a strong commitment from First Vice President of the Republic of the Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), H.E. Lt. General, Salva Kiir Mayardit, Vice President of the GoSS, H.E. Dr. Riak Machar, ministers, state governors, UN and development partners to the decentralization process in Southern Sudan. Under the chairmanship of Vice President Salva Kiir, the 6th Governors’ Forum kicked off on 29 September under the theme: “Operationalizing Decentralization for Effective CPA Implementation”.

Addressing the opening and closing sessions of the 6th Forum, Vice President Salva Kiir announced the launch of a series of reforms in the Southern Sudan public service, declared the year 2009 as “the year of Decentralization”, and called on relevant government institutions in Southern Sudan to “expedite the legislations related to local government, civil service, taxes, public audit, financial management, corruption and public grievances.”

“We very much appreciate our development partners and donor agencies for their efforts to assist in launching the decentralization process. I would urge them to sustain their assistance to support the ongoing process as it develops. I direct the Ministers of Finance and Regional Cooperation to ensure that the resources available in MDTF, Sudan Recovery Fund, Capacity Building Trust Fund, Basic Service Fund, Common Humanitarian Fund to be directed to states and counties. The same must be done for direct bilateral assistance from USAID, JICA, EC, DFID, China, World Bank and other donors”, Vice President concluded.

Organized by the GoSS Ministry of Presidential Affairs with the support of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Southern Sudan, the Forum was attended by the governors of all ten Southern Sudan states; state ministers of finance, state secretary generals, representatives of GoSS ministries and commissions; UN agencies, and development partners; and representatives of international and local NGOs.

During the 6th Governors’ Forum, several progress reports were presented to update participants on achievements, challenges and lessons learned. The quality of UNDP reports was commended by the government and development partners who acknowledged that the states were the first time able to demonstrate clearly what they had achieved since the 5th Governors’ Forum.

Also during the 6th Forum, the Minister of Public Service of Kenya, Mr. Dalmas Otieno Anyango, shared with participants the Kenyan experience in public service reform.

The concept of the Governors’ Forum of Southern Sudan was developed by UNDP between February and March 2006. Following the endorsement of the proposal by the government of Southern Sudan, the first Forum convened in May 2006. Since then, the Forum has been meeting at least twice a year to discuss issues mainly pertaining to political, fiscal and administrative decentralization and reforms in Southern Sudan; local government; foreign aid and decentralization; CPA implementation; and peace dividends.

To learn more about the Governors’ Forums’ work please visit: http://www.sd.undp.org/governors%20forum.htm

 

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