South Sudan peace parliament to form specialized committees in 3 weeks

JUBA – South Sudan’s Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) will be in a position to form specialized parliamentary committees within the next three weeks, or before the end of the year, a top legislator said Wednesday.

The formation of the committee has been delayed by disagreements between the parties to the revitalized peace agreement over the allocation process in which five parties would have a share of the over 30 committees.

Speaking to journalists following a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Paul Yoane, the designated chairperson of information committee in the reconstituted parliament, said the parties will form the committees within three weeks.

“So it is a matter of us having the committees and everything will go as normal. We have waited for months and years. What is 21 or 29 days? Although it looks discouraging, let me say, within three weeks, we will have everything in place,” he said.

The South Sudan parliamentarian further said the week-long 5th governor’s forum, which was held at the Freedom Hall where the parliament is currently conducting its business, had interrupted their activities.

“Had it not been for the governor’s forum, we should have actually started with the constitutional amendment bills numbers 8 and 9, which is one of the prerequisites of the agreement,” said Bonju.