R-JMEC chief urges parliament to pass new constitution

JUBA – The Interim Chairperson of South Sudan’s Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluating Commission (R-JMEC), Maj. Gen. Charles Tai Gituai, has urged the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) to expedite efforts to enact the country’s new constitution provided for in the revitalized peace agreement.

Speaking during the opening of orientation workshop for lawmakers in Juba on Tuesday, Gituai called on the parliamentarians to prioritize the most important legislation that will pave way for elections slated for 2023.

“It is imperative for RTNLA to prioritize and focus on legislative preparation for constitution making and election processes which are essential requirements of the agreement,” Gituai said.

“In order to transition the country to democratic dispensation, I encourage you as members of the August House to continue to remain seized of the implementation of the R-ACRSS and ensure appropriate and timely legislation that will hasten the achievement of the elections process within timeline,” he added.

Gituai called on the government to put in place a strategy plan to complete the remaining provisions in the 2018 peace deal.

“R-JMEC has repeatedly requested the RTGoNU to put in place a strategy to complete implementation of the R-ARCSS within the remainder of the transitional period,” he said.

According to the timetable agreed in the September 2018 deal, South Sudan is supposed to go to polls in 2023 after the implementation of key provisions of the 2018 agreement that ended a five-year-old political violence.

Those provisions include the unification of forces, repatriation of refugees and displaced people, a population census, and the drafting of a permanent constitution of South Sudan.

Another of these provisions is for a revision of the 2012 Political Parties Act which would be followed by its approval in parliament to enable the free and democratic registration of political parties.