Constitution review marked by discord
The draft constitution was handed to Southern Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir, who congratulated the committee for working under time constraints.
\"The struggle continues. We want the coming generations to remember.\"
\"You have come out with a document that will chart our way forward from here,\" he said. Acknowledging the people who helped develop the legal basis for the emerging nation, he added, \"The struggle continues. We want the coming generations to remember.\"
The process was not without acrimony, however. Several opposition parties quit the review procedure, complaining that it was unfairly dominated by the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). Only eleven of the 52 members appointed to the review committee came from the opposition.
The parties pulling out from the constitution review process included the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), the Southern Sudan Democratic Front (SSDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Listen to Pascal Ladu\'s report: Opposition pulls out of constitution reviewOpposition parties say they walked out of the review process because their proposed amendments to build democracy in Southern Sudan were outweighed by the ruling party’s efforts to consolidate the position of their party.
These parties claim the SPLM wants the constitution to reflect its own interests and has no intention of allowing people from other parties to participate in the review of the document.
Clement Juma, leader of United South Sudan Party (USSP) said another grievance of the opposition was a disagreement over the issue of a transitional period after the South\'s independence.
\"We proposed eighteen to 21 months,\" he said. \"But the SPLM said there should be no transitional period.\" The electoral term is five years.
According to Juma, the opposition’s bid for a share of power was also rejected.
\"We were proposing 50-50, but SPLM did not want to talk about this,\" he said. They talked about bringing in their members who are in the national assembly [in Khartoum] to join the parliament in Juba.\"
President Kiir insisted his party had no intention of excluding opposition parties and called for unity among Southern Sudanese.
\"Despite the fact that some of our colleagues from other political parties withdrew from this committee, it was not intended to discriminate against anybody,\" he said. \"We don’t want these accusations and counter-accusations to continue if we are going to unite as a young nation.\"
He stressed that no one else can solve such problems but Southern Sudanese themselves.
Kiir said the draft document would be shared with opposition political party leaders, then taken to the Council of Ministers. From there it will go the Legislative Assembly of South Sudan.
The new constitution will enable the future South Sudan to function as an independent state.
