A South Sudanese civil society activist, Merekaje Lorna, over the weekend, urged the unity government to implement legislative reforms as stipulated in the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
At the closing of the National Economic Conference that was attended by President Salva Kiir and First Deputy Vice President Dr. Riek Machar, she also queried the slow pace of the implementation of the peace deal.
“The agreement went further and said we need to have legislative reforms and review different issues of legislation,” she said. “We have realized that we have laws but the need between understanding and implementing those laws has been very minimal and that needs to be strengthened.”
“This is an issue that we need to look at together as a nation but also how best we can be able to roll those policies,” Merekaje added.
She emphasized that there needs to be legal reforms in public institutions as well as in the public financial management and the public service electronic payment system across government institutions.
Merekaje wondered why the peace agreement was not being implemented in the manner and desired speed.
“Why is it that the agreement is not being implemented the way we expect and what can we do or what needs to be done? Today, it is a privilege for me to be speaking among the people we expect to help us implement the agreement,” she said. “As civil society and as citizens, when the agreement was signed there are few things that we need, think and speak about every day, and that is the reform and transformation agenda in the agreement. That is very important.”
“We all appreciate that reform requires efforts, steps, and specific things to be done,” Merekaje added.