A bill for amending certain articles in South Sudan's constitution by the national parliament to extend the term of the president and other officials including parliamentarians themselves is set to be deliberated within the coming few days, a parliamentarian said.

Last month the Justice Minister said the articles to be amended by the National Legislature include Article 66 which deals with the term of the national legislature, Article 100 which deals with the tenure of the president, and articles dealing with the process for making a permanent constitution.

Thomas Wani Kundu, Chairman of the Information Committee in the National Legislative Assembly told Radio Tamazuj that the constitutional amendments bill was referred to a joint committee of justice and legislation for further studies for one month, as required by the constitution.

The constitution does not allow for a constitutional amendment introduced in parliament to be voted immediately. Instead, a month must be allowed for deliberations. That month has almost elapsed.

“So the bill is expected to be returned back to the MPs so that it is deliberated on for the second reading by Friday or Monday depending on the conduct business regulation,” said Wani.

During the third reading major amendments are made, whereas the fourth reading deals only with clerical errors, according to Thomas. He added the amendments to the constitution are made for the sake of peace in South Sudan.

“As long as the amendments will give peace a chance I think there is no reason to reject the amendments,” he said. But he noted that if the warring parties reach an agreement soon in Addis Ababa all the amendments to the constitution would be instantly dropped.

He also criticised the opposition caucus in the parliament for trying to reject the amendments bill. However, he said the opposition will never affect the decision. “The same people who were saying that elections shouldn’t be carried out, while the country is in war are the very people who are now rejecting the amendments bill. It shows that they don’t have principles,” he said.

For his part, Parliamentary Minority Leader Onyoti Adigo Nyikuac said they are opposing the amendments bill because it extends the tenure of the current government without involving other political parties.

“The constitution stipulates clearly that the constitutional power emanates from the people of South Sudan. The government had to consult the political parties on the way forward as the legitimacy of the government is coming to an end by 9 July,” he said.

Adigo further said that if they were consulted as political parties, the life of the current government would have been extended for more than two years.

“The government extended its life in order to cling to power for two years. Will they be able to conduct elections in the coming two years while there is war in the country?” he asked.

“After they had failed to reach a peace deal, all the South Sudan could have sat down to form a transitional government to bring peace through peace-building among communities,” he added.

The opposition leader pointed out that they will clarify their position on the matter during the deliberation. However, Onyoti predicted the minority caucus will be overwhelmed by the majority who are SPLM members in the parliament. The leading SPLM-DC member predicted that the MPs will never reject the amendments bill because it extends their own term in parliament for two years.

He indicated that the extension of the current government may obstruct peace talks with the rebels because afterwards the government will not accept any changes to the current institutions.

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Constitutional amendment tabled to extend Kiir´s term (20 Feb.)