Keji Janefer
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Transitional National Legislative Assembly held the second reading of the National Prisons Service Amendment Bill, 2022, following its suspension by the legislators.
The Chairperson of National Security and Public Order, Simon Kun Puoch, gave the parliamentarians the joint report of the bill that had been examined by the concerned committee.
The debate over the bill was suspended in July 2022, when the parliamentarians discovered that a complete chapter in the bill that discusses the staff disciplinary board had been omitted without justification.
“No reason was given by NCAC, and this [Chapter VI, about the staff disciplinary boards], has completely disappeared,” the previous report of the committees stated.
After careful consideration of the report, the assembly members who participated in the discussions in July recommended that the bill be returned to the committees so that they could consult with the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC) about why that specific provision was removed.
The lawmakers also recommended that the chapter be reinstated, pointing out that if passed without the disciplinary provision in it, the Act would fail to hold prison officers accountable for any improper behaviour while performing their duties.
Speaking to reporters after the sitting, John Agany, spokesperson of the TNLA and chair of the committee of information, said the chapter on the staff disciplinary board has been reinstated in the bill.
“They have incorporated what they left out, and I think it will stand in totality and we will pass it. “Of course, it will not come to the house if that one is not incorporated,” Agany commented yesterday.
According to the Speaker’s communication, Jemma Nunu Kumba, the appropriate committee should bring the bill back to the house on Wednesday for more discussion before the lawmakers adopt it into law. The bill was passed to its third reading stage of discussion.
The bill was introduced to the House by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ruben Madol, and received its first reading in the March 2022 ordinary sitting.
The committees were responsible for amending, deleting, substituting, rearranging, and adding to establish a new chapter, section, sub-section, paragraph, expression, or term in the main Act. The amendment bill was designed to amend the old Southern Sudan Prison Service Act, 2011.
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