South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The chairperson of the National Constitution Review Commission (NCRC), Riang Yier Zuor, remains optimistic that the commission can complete the permanent constitution-making process before the end of the extended transitional period, provided adequate funding is secured.
“While it is now May 2025, we believe that if resources are made available, the Commission can work day and night, doubling our efforts to ensure we finish the process before the transition ends,” Zuor said on Tuesday at the NCRC premises after receiving donations of computers and printing supplies from UN Women.
“We are still in the process of mobilizing resources. We have not yet received anything since the launch, but we are in contact with both the government and our partners, and we receive promises,” he added.
Zuor emphasized that civic education and public consultations are the main activities of the constitution-making process, noting that the views of the people of South Sudan will be taken into consideration when drafting the constitutional text.
“We have not yet conducted public consultations and civic education due to a lack of resources, security, and the political situation in the country. However, we hope to soon be out of Juba conducting public consultations and civic education,” he said.
Rukaya Mohamed, deputy country representative of UN Women, stated that the permanent constitution is expected to protect and preserve the rights of women in the country.
“The constitution will be the document that truly includes women’s rights. Once we have a permanent constitution, we know that women’s rights and gender equality will be guaranteed, and women will have equal access to education,” Mohamed said.
“We hope that together we can address issues of concern to establish a permanent constitution for South Sudan that ensures equality and empowerment for both men and women in the country.”
Oyet Patrick Charles, a member of the NCRC, mentioned that the constitution-making process could be completed within 15 months if resources are made available.
“Our original plan was to complete the constitution-making process in 18 months. However, just about two weeks ago, we revised our timeline and concluded that it is possible to finalize the constitution in 15 months if resources are available,” Charles said.
“The constitution-making process is not linear. There are multiple activities that can occur simultaneously, such as civic education. We remain hopeful that the constitution can be completed within the remaining timeframe,” he added.
The National Constitution Review Commission launched Civic Education and Public Consultation in March 2025, aiming to collect views that will be used to draft the constitutional text as stipulated by the revitalized 2018 agreement, extending the process to 24 months instead of the original 18 months.
