South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) said on Friday it will establish the Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC) to draft the permanent constitution bill.
The 12-member committee that will be comprised of experts will help the commission to draft permanent constitution bill which is expected to pave the way for free, fair and credible elections next year.
Dr. Riang Yier Zuor, Chairperson of NCRC said they will establish the constitutional drafting committee to solicit citizens’ views on the permanent constitution making process.
“As a commission, we will be in a position to recruit members of the committee to draft the bill and then we carry out a civic education campaign to raise awareness on constitutional issues and promote public debate on those particulars issues that are relevant,” said Yier during press briefing held at the commission’s headquarter in Juba.
He said that the committee will draft the first draft of the constitution based on citizens’ views collected by the commission.
”Then once that is done, the commission will be in a position to validate that first draft and it is going to be published for public scrutiny such that members of the public can make informed reactions on particular issues of interest and the first stage comes to an end,” said Yier.
He said the first stage involves raising public awareness on the constitutional making process and production of the first draft of the constitutional text.
Yier added that the commission will facilitate civic education, granting accessibility of civic education materials to all sectors of the public.
After drafting the constitution, the first draft will be presented to the minister of justice who will table it before a conference comprised of 1,200 persons representing different categories of South Sudanese, according to the 2018 peace deal.
NCRC is comprised of 58 members and it is mandated to guide and oversee the constitution-making process.
South Sudan is currently governed under the 2018 revitalized peace agreement signed to end years of conflict since December 2013.
