John Akoon
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Undersecretary for the Ministry of East African Community Affairs, Beny Gideon, dismissed a suggestion that the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) should be substituted with the National Constitution Conference in the law-making process.
This was after the leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), Dr. Lam Akol argued in an opinion titled “Revisiting Permanent Constitution Making Process”, that there was too much attention being given to the NCRC without considering the National Constitution Conference.
“Too much attention has been given to the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) to the extent of even assuming the powers reserved for the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) and the drafting committee that must stem from the National Constitutional Conference,” Lam said, as quoted by Beny Gideon.
But in his opinion published by a South Sudanese online media, Beny opposed Dr. Lam’s suggestion, saying his arguments were not politically and legally reasonable.
According to Beny, the constitution-making process is defined by the terms and conditions of the R-ARCSS 2018 and the Constitution-making Process Act 2022, making them the main legal parameters.
“Both legal instruments established mechanisms for the constitution-making process including the (NCRC) amongst other constitution building blocks. The NCRC as the name suggests, misled others to believe its mandate is only the review of the Constitution,” Beny said, arguing that there is no disagreement that the Constitution cannot be written without the use or benefits of existing literature be it National or external borrowing.
He also pointed out that Dr. Lam Akol as the leader of the NDM Party is already participating in the Transitional Government of National Unity.
He added: “Any opinion coming from him is not just individual political thought, but that of the group or political organization.”
“I therefore respectfully disagree with Dr Lam’s premise for proposing to ‘do away’ with the NCRC in the process of making our constitution permanent,” he noted.
“It appears that he has chosen to undervalue the designated role of the NCRC for reasons explained in his piece that are not politically and legally reasonable,” he added.
He further underscored that the process was vital for a legally appointed facilitator that was already fulfilled by the NCRC, faulting Dr Lam for trying to overlook the process.
“It is quite unfortunate that Dr. Lam seems to overlook the importance of public education or awareness in this process,” Beny noted.
“These vital issues cannot be addressed concurrently with deliberations on the constitutional text during the NCC as he has suggested,” he added.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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