Dr. Richard K Mulla speaking during a Sundown live talk show on constitution making process in South Sudan. Photo Credit: Moses Awan/Eye Radio - April 24, 2023

A lawmaker in the National Legislative Assembly has said lack of resources should not be used as an excuse to delay the reconstitution of mechanisms of the Constitution Making Process.

According to the bill that was passed into Act in October last year, the unity government shall reconstitute the National Constitutional Review Commission within 45 days after coming into force of the bill.

The parties and other stakeholders to the Agreement shall then nominate and submit a list of their nominees to the Taskforce within 30 days.

The task force shall thereafter consult with the nominating groups on the qualifications of the candidates on their respective lists.

And upon conclusion of the consultation, the Minister of Justice shall transmit the names of the proposed nominees to the Executive of the R-TGoNU for appointment as members of the Commission.

But the process has been delayed since the act was assented to by President Salva Kiir in December last year.

According to Dr Richard Mulla, the establishment and reconstitution of mechanisms in the process of making the Constitution does not require financial resources.

He calls on the parties and stakeholders to the agreement to speed up the nomination of the members to expedite the process.

According to Dr Richard, this will give way to the functioning of other mechanisms in ensuring a permanent constitution is drafted.

“You cannot put that one under resources, first of all, appointing people, does it need resources to appoint people, nominate names, read the names, issue a decree, and read them on TV? Does that need resources at all? I don’t think so. If the mechanisms were established and they failed to work because of resources, then probably you could say,” said Dr Richard.

For his part, Savior Tombe the Secretary General of the South Sudan Youth Constitution Review Working Group blames the slow establishment of the mechanisms on the lack of political will by the peace parties.

He wonders why nomination to the NCRC is taking long when the platforms and secretariats necessary for the establishment of the mechanisms are functioning.

“Let us be very honest. We have heard nominations being done in this country for positions that went vacant, they have been read on SSBC at 8 O’clock every evening,’ said Tombe.

“We hear decrees are being read and even up to now we are still hearing rumours of some decrees that will be made, so this really does not require resources,

“The infrastructure for announcing these mechanisms is there, the SSBC that always decrees is there, the secretariat of these parties to the agreement and other stakeholders are all in place,

“The human resource is all in place, I don’t think the issue of money is what is really delaying the reconstitution and establishment of these mechanisms,

“I don’t think there is will and it is not money that is hindering these mechanisms but there is something that I think they should really tell us”.

The two speakers made the remarks during Eye Radio’s Sundown show at the Youth Hub in Juba yesterday.

The Composition of the commission shall reflect, amongst others, the gender, political, social, ethnic, religious, and regional diversity of South Sudan.

It shall comprise 57 members inclusive of the Chairperson and Deputy, who shall be of opposite genders and are appointed by the Executive of the R-TGoNU.

Other members, about 45% shall be representatives of the stakeholders and 55% shall be representatives of the R-TGoNU and political parties.

The powers and functions of the commission include formulation of its rules of procedure, developing its action or work plan, and recruitment of the members of the committee.

It shall also facilitate and promote multi-faceted public consultations, which cover all constitutional issues of relevance in collaboration with non-state actors and supported by media platforms.

It shall also receive, analyze and consider inputs and submissions from public participation and consultations and transmit the outcome of public consultations to the committee.

The Commission shall also validate the first draft constitutional text, publish the first draft of the text and present to the conference and the committee a report containing the outcomes of the first stage of public consultations.

It is also mandated to conduct civic education following the adoption of the Permanent Constitution.

On the vacancy of the position of the Chair, deputy, or any member, the Executive of the R-TGoNU shall within a period of 15 days appoint a person to fill the vacancy in accordance with the bill.

Other mechanisms of the Constitution Making Process include the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 15 members recruited by the NCRC and appointed by the R-TGoNU of whom 12 members shall be South Sudanese, 8 practising lawyers, 2 political scientists, and 2 economists.

Three of them shall be non-South Sudanese nationals.

Its powers and functions include formulating its procedure and election of a senior Legal Drafter and Deputy Senior Legal Drafter from among the 12 South Sudanese.

It shall receive inputs from the other mandated mechanisms and act as a body of experts at each stage of the constitution-making process.

The Committee shall draft the constitutional text on the basis of the results of public consultations and deliberations of the Commission and Conference.

It shall then submit the first draft constitutional test to the Commission for validation and attend deliberations of the Conference and incorporate its results into the first draft constitutional text.

The CDC shall produce a second draft constitutional text for final deliberations and adoption by the conference.

The other mechanism is the Preparatory Sub-Committee which shall be appointed by the Executive of the R-TGoNU. It shall convene the conference on the basis of nominations submitted by the Parties to the Agreement and other stakeholders.

The Parties to the Agreement and other stakeholders shall submit the list of their nominees to the Taskforce.

The Sub-Committee shall comprise 25 members inclusive of the Chairperson and the Deputy, who shall be of the opposite gender.

Forty-five per cent (45%) of the members shall be representatives of the stakeholders and fifty-five (55%) shall be representatives of the RTGoNU ad political parties.

Its composition shall reflect amongst others the gender, political, social, ethnic, religious, and regional diversity of South Sudan.

The Preparatory Sub-Committee is mandated to formulate its own rules of procedure, make consultations with the nominating categories and convene the conference.

The Sub-Committee shall stand dissolved after the last sitting of the Conference.

The other mechanism of the Constitution Making Process is the National Constitutional Conference charged to be an inclusive deliberative body with representation from all sectors of South Sudanese society.

The Conference shall comprise at least 1,000 delegates from political parties, civil society, women, youth, and faith-based organizations.

It shall also include people with special needs, internally displaced persons, refugees, and people from the diaspora.

The Conference shall also include traditional leaders, war widows, veterans and war wounded, business leaders, trade unions, professional associations, academia, and other categories to be determined.

The powers and functions of the Conference shall be formulating its own rules of procedures, and developing working modalities to guide the fulfilment of its mandate.

It shall also have a mandate of examining and deliberating on the first draft constitutional text and adopting the final draft constitutional text.

The Conference shall also submit the adopted constitutional text to the Minister.

The sitting quorum for the adoption of the final constitutional text shall be a two-thirds majority of all members of the Conference.

In its deliberations, the conference shall seek to achieve consensus and the final draft constitutional text shall be adopted by consensus.

If consensus is not achieved, the conference shall adopt the final draft constitutional text by two-thirds of the majority of members present and voting.

The Secretariat of the Commission shall equally function as the secretariat of the Conference.

In the performance of their functions, the mechanisms of the Constitution-Making Process shall be accountable to the people of South Sudan.

It shall also ensure that no parts of the public are excluded from civic education and participation for reasons of physical disability, level of education, language, geographic location, religious beliefs, ethnicity, political affiliation, or any other reasons.

The mechanisms shall also ensure that the Constitution Making Process accommodates the diversity of the people of South Sudan, and is guided by respect for the principles relative to constitutionalism, the rule of law, human rights, gender equity, and affirmative action.

It shall also ensure that the outcome of the Constitution-Making Process faithfully reflects the will of the people of South Sudan.