The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) office in Aweil last week held a two-day workshop to empower members of the Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Assembly in parliamentary procedures and policymaking among others.
The speaker of the state assembly, Achol William Amuoi, told Radio Tamazuj Monday that she came up with the idea for the training and was backed up by the parliamentary affairs minister so that the lawmakers can acquire the capacity to perform their duties.
“When I was appointed, I and the minister of parliamentary affairs realized that the number of new MPs is more than the old ones and that it will cause many challenges in sessions unless a (training) workshop is conducted for them so that they know how an MP behaves in sittings, respecting bylaws and conduct of business,” Speaker Achol said.
The participants’ representative, William Wel Deng, has said they learned a lot about parliamentary procedures, constitutionalism, and links between state parliaments, and the National Council of States among others.
“We learned about normal procedures of the parliament, constitutionalism, the links between the state parliament and Council of States,” he said. “We have also learned about the leadership of the assembly, the conduct of business, and how to speak in parliament and government structures. It was good and fruitful.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Akol Diing, one of the facilitators said the workshop achieved 98 percent of its objectives.
“98 percent of the workshop was successful. The MPs appreciated the facilitation, UNMISS, the leadership of the assembly, and the government of the State for the request that was presented to UNMISS to come and show ways on how to make procedures on legislation, making laws,” Akol said.