The council of ministers on Friday approved the plan for the implementation of the Constitution Making Process Act 2022 as presented by the Minister of Justice, Ruben Madol Arol, Information Minister Michael Makuei revealed.
According to Makuei, constitutional making is a long process and will start with the reconstitution of the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC).
“The council of ministers listened to a presentation by Justice Minister Rueben Madol about the implementation of the Constitution Making Process Act 2022. The implementation of this constitution-making process is a process by itself which starts with the reconstitution of the National Constitution Amendment Committee (NCAC) in accordance with the law,” he explained. “Thereafter, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) will be established and after that, a preparatory subcommittee will be established to handle the transactions and business of the National Constitution Review Committee.”
“After drafting the constitution, the first draft will be presented to the minister of justice who will table it before a conference comprised of 1,200 persons representing different categories of South Sudanese,” he added.
Makuei enlightened that after the conference, the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) will transform itself into a Constituent Assembly (CA).
“The CA will then go through the draft constitution and pass it and revert itself to a parliament. The constitution will then be taken to the president who for assenting into law and that will be the end of the process,” he said. “This process is starting now and is likely to end in February 2024.”
“This is what Justice Madol presented and the cabinet authorized him to operationalize the presentation he made,” Makuei said.
The minister also said that the justice minister also requested an extension of the tenure of the Judicial Reform Committee (JRC).
“The committee had written to the minister requesting him to table a request before the cabinet to extend the tenure of the committee so the cabinet approved a one-year term starting Friday 27 January to 26 January next year,” he added.