Members of the RNCRC meet in Juba. (Photo: Obaj Okuj)

The Reconstituted National Constitutional Review Commission on Monday officially launched a five-day induction workshop for its members as it plans to roll out its activities.

First established by a presidential order on January 9, 2012, the commission is mandated to conduct a nationwide civic education, public consultations, and formulate a draft permanent constitution for the Republic of South Sudan.

It was then reconstituted on November 3, 2023, in accordance with Chapter Five of the revitalized peace agreement and Article 9.1 of the Constitution Making Process Act 2022.

Dr. Riang Yer Zuor, the Commission’s Chairperson, emphasized the need to adopt the commission’s action plans and rules of procedure.

“The purpose of it is one to bring together the members of the Commission for the first time to carry out some official functions of the commission,” said Yer.

He said the ongoing workshop is to scrutinize the commission’s internal instruments, encompassing the rules of procedure, action plan, budget, and the civic education and public consultation manual.

“The second part of it is for the members of the commission to review and revise and adopt some internal documents of the commission that will operationalize the commission. We intended to present the Constitution Making Process Act to the members, which we just did few minutes ago and this purpose of the workshop.”

For his part, Ambassador Jerome Biswaro, Special Representative of the African Union and head of the AU office in South Sudan, urged the government to allocate funds to support the commission’s activities.

He stated that the African Union would provide support to the National Constitutional Review Commission.

“We urge the R-TGONU to avail to this important institution finance so that it carries out its mandate,” Ambassador Biswaro said.

The Minister of Youth and Sport, who represented the government at the workshop, emphasized that the constitutional-making process is anticipated to yield a political map for South Sudan.

Joseph Geng urged commission members to advocate for the will of the people rather than their political interests.

“I know you were drawn from different stakeholders, but I like to remind you that irrespective of your affiliations, you are expected to respect the constitution and the aspirations of the people of South Sudan,” Gend said.

“The aspirations of the people of South is that they would like to have an inclusive people driven (constitutional making) process, that there’s a consensus and that the process produces peace and national unity.”

The constitution-making process, demands expertise, skills, neutrality, integrity, transparency, honesty, dedication, objectivity, nationalism, and comprehensive nationwide civic education, public consultation, and media coverage.

The commission bears the responsibility of ensuring proper internal re-organization and thorough orientation of commissioners to empower them to efficiently and expeditiously fulfill their duties.