FACTS ABOUT THE NEW CABINET OF SOUTHERN SUDAN

The Cabinet announced today is composed of thirty-two (32) ministers, two (2) unnamed are reserved for the National Congress Party (NCP). The thirty (30) named are the subject of the following dissection.

1. The Dinkas are eleven (11) in number and continue to dominate the key ministries (The Army, Internal Affairs, Finance, Energy, Commerce, Labour, Regional Cooperation, etc..).

2. The Nuers come at a distant second with six (6) ministers. The only significant ministry they have is Legal Affairs.

3. The two tribes (Dinka and Nuer) add up to 17 members of the Cabinet (about 57%) leaving only 13 (about 43%) to all the other tribes of South Sudan !

4. Greater Bahr el Ghazal and Greater Upper Nile regions got eleven (11) ministers each whereas Greater Equatoria region got a mere eight (8) ministers. If you add to these figures the President of GOSS and his Vice (both of whom are members of the Cabinet), the two regions will have twelve (12) each in contrast to Greater Equatoria's only eight (8) ministers!

5. The Dinka ministers are more than those representing the whole of Greater Equatoria region, and the Nuers are almost equal in number to them.

6. Within Greater Bahr el Ghazal region, the most populous Northern Bahr el Ghazal State got only two (2) ministers whereas each of the other three States got three (3). It is to be noted that Northern Bahr el Ghazal State was not represented in the National Government announced last Monday.

7. Within Greater Equatoria region, Eastern Equatoria State got only two (2) ministers compared to three (3) each for the other two State.

8. Women got only seven (7) ministers, one of them without portfolio. This figure is short of the minimum 25% ratio stipulated under Article 20(4)(a) of the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan 2005.

These are the naked facts. It is left to the readers to draw up their own conclusions.

*NB: The fact that Mr. Pagan Amum and Dr. Anne Itto are included in the GoSS cabinet is a transparent sign that they are being exited from SPLM's Secretariat. Is Mr. Pagan going to accept or decline the appointment in order to keep his weight in the Secretariat? Is Mr. Telar Riing coming in to replace Mr. Pagan once he accepts the Ministerial post? These are some new developments to observe keenly as SPLM events and internal conspiracies unveil themselves slowly in the coming days.

Joseph Adyieng Lives in Sudan and is reachable at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.