South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"

By Simon Deng
The Council of Ministers is yet to table the much-awaited family bill before the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) due to many priority bills, said a lawmaker on Friday.
“The issue of family law has not yet come to parliament, the current reconstituted parliament has its own priority, there are specific laws that are mention by the agreement to be given priority by the parliament,” Nyeyang John, the Chairperson for the Specialized Committee on Gender, Child and Social Welfare in the TNLA said.
She was speaking during closing of the three-day workshop on empowering women political skills held at Crown Hotel in Juba.
The workshop was organized by ministry of parliamentary affairs with support from the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Political Affairs Division.
“Currently the ministry of gender has also launched the Women Empowerment Bill, which will be brought to the parliament very soon, it is now with the ministry of justice,” John said.
Mary Nawai Martin, the national minister of parliamentary affairs said they are working to build skills of female parliamentarians and women in politics.
“One way to attract more women in politics is through the allocation of quotas for women, I want women to return to respective parties, parliament and lobby party leadership so that special quota can be allocated for women,” Martin said.
Guy Bennet, the UNMISS Chief of Political Affairs Division said women participation in leadership and governance is critical in achieving sustainable peace.
“We will continue discussions with the ministry of parliamentary affairs and everybody else to see how we can take women participation forward, it is not a one-time thing,” Bennet said.
James Francis Kutiyote, the undersecretary for the national ministry of parliamentary affairs, said mentoring members of parliament and political parties is urgently needed as the country moves towards general elections.
“We are requesting UNMISS and all other partners to support the ministry of parliamentary affairs, moving forward let us invest in activities that change the mindset of the people and at the end of the day we can have a transformed society,” Kutiyote said.