Senior government officials, political party leaders and civil society activists met today in Juba to discuss the IGAD peace process.

IGAD asked for these consultations to start before a 15-day deadline.

Two weeks ago, IGAD gave the government and the SPLM in Opposition fifteen days to consult on the powers of the prime minister and the system of governance during the transitional period.

President Salva Kiir says the power and position of Prime Minister would be taken to parliament for deliberations before the government accepts to include it in the transitional government of national unity.

President Kiir says it is the parliament to decide on the powers of the Prime Minister.

“We accepted the position of a Prime Minister, but will be the one to decide according to the constitution. And if we come up with an agreement, we will make changes, because we did not have the position of a Prime Minister before.” Kiir said.

The President said that it is upon the people of South Sudan to decide whether they want a federal system of governance or not.

“But I don’t mean that you can decree federation that let us go federalism. You cannot do it. It is the choice of the people. And also somebody said it before here that the ten states we have are almost federal states. They have their own parliament, they have their constitution and they have everything that they have. What they may not have is the money; is what they don’t have.” Kiir said.

Salva Kiir says elections have to be done to ensure legitimacy in the government.

The talks were supposed to resume tomorrow but IGAD says it will delay to allow the SPLM in Opposition to finalize their consultations.