A legal expert has warned South Sudan’s Transitional Government to take urgent action to avert a constitutional crisis.
Constitutional lawyer Deng John Deng told Radio Tamazuj that the government would face a legitimacy crisis if the peace parties do not reach a consensus before the end of the transitional period.
According to the National Election Act 2023, the Transitional Government must dissolve its executive and legislative bodies by September 22.
South Sudan’s National Election Commission (NEC) has announced a December 22 General Election as per Section 16 (1) of the National Election Act 2023. Despite the plans unveiled by NEC, the feasibility of the December poll — the first since the country gained independence in July 2011 — is increasingly in doubt.
Deng said South Sudan was at a crossroads, and it remains unclear if it will survive the transition challenge. Its leaders, he said, were unable to move forward with the current Tumaini Initiative talks in Kenya, or agree to end the transition guided by the 2018 Peace Agreement and the national laws.
“We need an urgent constitutional intervention so that the country can emerge from this situation. If the tenure of the Transitional Government ends without an election, or another extension, South Sudan will be considered an illegitimate government,” he warned.
“If no action is taken and the government enters into a constitutional vacuum, it will affect all the state institutions, including our missions abroad, because the government in Juba will be considered unconstitutional,” he added.
Deng, however, expects that the Presidency might decide to form a caretaker administration in case there is no clear roadmap after September 22. He says the government still has some time to take action.
He advised the Transitional Government not to rely on the Tumaini Initiative as an avenue for another extension and instead task the high-level committee to work on a technical report urgently and advise the Presidency on the way forward.
“The Tumaini Initiative has yet to succeed; there is no agreement yet, and time is running out. There is a need for urgent constitutional arrangements for the current Transitional Government that is facing a constitutional and legitimacy crisis,” he said.
“My recommendation is that the Presidency needs to meet and urgently address the constitutional matters facing the Transitional Government,” he concluded.