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S. Sudan women groups want assembly speaker’s post

 A variety of South Sudanese women have requested that the position of speaker for the yet-to-be established

transitional national assembly.

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As a group, the women exclaimed that their demand was justified based on the fact that men occupy the positions of president, first vice president and the vice president in the transitional government. This was said in a strongly-worded petition acknowledged by 18 women’s groups. 

“The executive branch of government is comprised of all men, therefore, balance [of power] will be achieved by appointing a female for the position of speaker of parliament,” partly read the petition.

“South Sudanese women will continue to lead the call for peace and affirm our rights of participation, inclusion and consultation of decision-making processes at every level of government, including ambassadorial positions,” it added.

In regard to the compromise peace agreement that was signed by the two warring factions in August 2015 to end the 21-month long conflict, the government would elect a speaker hailing from the Greater Equatoria region. In addition to that, there will be seven ministers, including four of them, to be elected by President Salva Kiir’s government and three by armed opposition faction led by Riek Machar.

The agreement, which was molded by East African regional leaders, further calls for respect to the 25% women quota representations in all departments of the government.

Rita Lopidia, a representative of the women activists, said the Juba government must implement the requirements of the agreement without being condemned.

“We are saying women are also tired of calling for this 25% women representation. This is constitutional and there is no need for women to beg or ask for appointments of women in these positions,” she told reporters in the South Sudanese capital, Juba. 

The transitional national legislature is expected to be bolstered from 325 to 400 legislators and a speaker will be selected at the first sitting of the assembly. In other terms, the transitional government of national unity will be sworn next week as per a timetable released by Joint Monitoring and Evaluation commission (JMEC), which was tasked to monitor the implementation of the August 2015 peace agreement.

My opinion towards this particular article is that I think is great that women in Sudan are fighting for what they want. In their government I believe it would beneficial to have a woman as the speaker of the parilament. It is good that they are taking into account that women aren't just human beings that are meant to stay home and cook/clean all day long. There are some issues that women understand better than men, and vice versa. So by having a woman, I believe that by the government giving women an opportunity would help Sudan greatly.