South Sudan's former Justice Minister John Luk, a member of the SPLM 'Former Detainees' group, said the move by parliament members yesterday to try to approve constitutional amendments to create 28 new states is inconsistent with the signed peace agreement.

Luk told Radio Tamazuj that the peace agreement is above the transitional constitution.

“[The amendment] is meaningless if the government is committed to the agreement, but if this agreement is nonsense to them, then they should indicate that there is no agreement in place,” he said.

He pointed out that the government shouldn’t be in a hurry to amend the constitution since they claimed to be committed to the peace agreement.

“The president in his speech the day before yesterday said they are committed to the peace agreement. So, why are they rushing to amend the constitution?” he asked.

Luk, who is also the spokesman of the SPLM-G10 group, said that the peace agreement itself says that it is higher than the constitution of South Sudan, and in case of conflict between its provisions and that of the constiution, the peace agreement shall prevail. 

Less than two thirds of MPs members yesterday voted to pass constitutional amendments to create 28 new states by amending articles 162, 164 and 165 of the constitution and other stipulations to allow for incorporation of the states decreed by President Salva Kiir.