The national parliament has raised fresh concerns over the implementation of the revitalised peace agreement, where lawmakers are worried that the remaining transitional period could be shorter to allow for the accomplishment of pending tasks.

While the parliament was inaugurated a year and a half after the transitional period began, MPs’ terms in office and mandates run concurrently with the leaders in the executive. This means they all have to operate on borrowed time as far as executing their duties are concerned.

For the MPs, this case is even more eminent. For instance, what the agreement anticipated to be executed in four, seven months’ time, or a year: the MPs have started doing in the second year of the transitional period despite the fact that the unity government is now in its third year.

The Constitution Amendment bill No. 8, which incorporates the agreement into the constitution, and the Constitution Amendment Bill No. 9, which alters the names of the organised forces, are two of the most important bills passed by the parliament thus far.

One of the other laws is the Conduct of Business Regulation for the Two Houses. Consider President Salva Kiir’s address to Parliament, in which he charged the legislature with functioning as an oversight body to pass urgent legislation, such as the budget.

The legislators have also presented motions on the country’s flooding crisis, rising market prices, and the deworming tablet incident in Ibba County, and summoned several ministers to discuss it.

In an exclusive interview with The City Review, the First Deputy Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Nathaniel Oyet Peirino, expressed doubts on whether the unity government would implement some of the key provisions of the agreement before the end of the transitional period, particularly the Parliament, given the pending tasks that the legislature must address.

Mammoth task                      

Parliament, like any other government organ, operates on a financial budget that allows parliamentarians to carry out activities both inside and outside the chamber that require financial resources, but Mr Oyet stated that the lack of resources continues to be a major challenge for them in carrying out their mandates.

He noted that another challenge for the parliament is the slow pace at which the accord is being implemented.

 “We expect to visit our constituencies around the country, but because of the lack of security arrangements, unification of forces, and so forth, we cannot. In other areas, violations of security arrangements and cessations of hostilities go on. As a result, our members are unable to visit their constituents, “said Mr Oyet in an interview.

The first deputy speaker indicated that parliament will do everything possible to carry out the mandate given to them by the revitalised agreement and that if they fail, “we will notify the peace implementation institutions, the R-JMEC, the IGAD, and the parties.”  He added: “We shall inform them of the difficulties we may have encountered as a result of failing to complete some of the tasks allocated to us.’’

 “By next week, we will be in our third year, the last year of the transitional period. So this is a challenge. We have over 46 activities to accomplish during the three years, and now it is a very big challenge for us,” Mr Oyet explained to the City Review.

“And we are very worried that now we are running out of time and also that the implementation of the agreement is very, very much lagging behind and that worries the parliament so much,” he further lamented.

Mr Oyet further said that the revitalised agreement’s slow implementation also makes it difficult to convene a timely election in light of the agreement’s slow implementation and other key aspects that have yet to be executed.

Tough election puzzle

He warned that holding elections without these critical aspects would be tantamount to abrogating the agreement itself, and he recommended the parties reconvene at the growing board and chat their way forward when they realise they have failed to properly implement the agreement’s terms.

“South Sudan holding elections before fulfilling key terms of the agreement, such as security arrangements, census, permanent constitution-making process, and many others, including repatriation, will affect the process,’’ the first deputy speaker said.

 “If you hold elections and leave out other provisions of the election, it means you have abrogated the agreement itself, and of course, we don’t want to see that happen as an institution. We want the agreement to be implemented in letter and spirit, including the holding of elections, “he warned.

While other political parties to the revitalised agreement and the United Nations oppose conducting elections at the end of the current unity government’s transitional period, the SPLM-IG has begun mobilising its party members in preparation for elections next year.

Last week, however, Vice President for Economic Cluster Dr James Wani Igga, who is also the deputy chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), urged his party members in Western Equatoria State to step up efforts to unite the people so that the party can retain power in the 2023 elections.

Dr Igga advised the party’s leadership to begin working on community projects that will have an influence on the community through service delivery.