Lawmakers furious as part of national police bill meant for deliberation ‘disappears’

JUBA – South Sudan’s lawmakers in the Reconstituted Transitional National Parliament (R-TLNA) are furious after a parliamentary committee discovered that an important part of the national police bill meant for deliberation was missing sparking questions.

The part of the missing bill, lawmakers say, provides for disciplinary measures against senior members of the national police who is to be found abusing his/her powers provided by the law.

Former Upper Nile state governor and Chairperson of Committee on National Security and Public Order Simon Kun Puoch at the peace parliament read the bill before lawmakers sparking anger and furry after the lawmakers didn’t heard the part.

“No reason was given by NCAC and this [Chapter VI – about the staff disciplinary boards], has completely disappeared,” Kun Puoch is quoted by City Review as saying.

For his part, Albino Akol, the deputy chairperson of agriculture committee and member of parliament on the ticket of the OPP says the parliament need to consult the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAN) on the missing text.

“Instead of the committee saying that NCAC did not give clarification, I want to say that the committee is supposed to seek clarification from NCAC because we believe in the NCAC. All of us participated in that committee. What they [committee] did was in consultation with the agreement and all the existing laws,” he said.

Lawmaker Joy Kwaje says: “To say it has disappeared, what does it mean and what does the committee think? If it is with the NCAC, it must be included; otherwise, we will not continue to pass this without the entire chapter that establishes the disciplinary board.

“My opinion here is that before we pass this document, we demand that it be clarified by the committee whether this particular chapter disappeared and therefore we don’t need it in the law. If it is not going to appear in the law, we want to know what is appearing in the law.”