The Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) have called for involvement in the ongoing public consultations, which is the initial process of South Sudan’s constitution-making process according to the 2018 peace deal.
The request was voiced during a two-day public consultation on the Constitution-Making Process Bill, 2022 in Juba last week.
A PWD representative from the International Disability Alliance Mouot Louis told Radio Tamazuj that among the issues discussed was the inclusion of PWDs in national processes.
“We, persons with disabilities who are represented in this meeting have specifically emphasized that persons with disability need to be included in the process because we have seen that other categories are given percentages like 35% for women and the others that have been given to the political parties,” he said.
Louis stressed that the voice of the PWDs is important in the public consultation as they are citizens with equal rights and they wish to see issues affecting PWDs addressed in the constitution.
Responding to the concern, the chairperson for the information committee in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly John Agany said the peace agreement and the transitional constitution both address the matter.
“You know in the agreement, people with disability have been addressed, if the agreement does not spell it out, the constitution is saying it,” Agany noted. “And you know the constitution is the supreme law of the nation and the agreement only overrides when there is a disagreement between the parties to the agreement otherwise the constitution is the book that we all respect and we follow.”
The Constitution-Making Process Bill, 2022 was presented to parliament mid-last month. The Bill aims at formulating a legal framework that will pave way for the permanent constitution-making process and the conduct of general elections by the end of the transitional period. It will also guarantee good governance, constitutionalism, and rule of law.
The workshop was organized by the UN Mission in South Sudan’s Rule of Law Section in collaboration with the Justice Committee at the national parliament.