By Sheila Ponnie
The Inter-Government Authority on Development (IGAD) through Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed a military general and graduate from the National Defence College to serve as the Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission.
Uhuru appointed Major General (Rtd) Charles Tai Gituai to replace Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Augostino S.K Njorore, who serving on an acting capacity.
Ambassador Njorore served in the acting role for two years before his recall by Uhuru last week.
In a farewell statement to the peace deal signatories, Njorore lamented the slow pace of the implementation process and urged the government to take full responsibility and drive the agreement to the trajectory of success.
“Throughout the period since signing the Agreement, I have had concerns about the pace of implementation. At times, it appeared to me like progress stalled. What is clear is that the implementation pace must accelerate.” He said during the handover ceremony.
The outgoing Chair said the establishment of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity should have been a catalyst to the faster implementation process of the peace deal, but that has not happened.
He stressed that the implementation merits show what there is to be done and when the reactivated working committees give RJMEC the tools which can be used to monitor and assist the RTGoNU in the implementation of the agreement.
“Now that it is almost 6 months on since the presidency was sworn in, the RTGoNU should come up with a revised practical timeframe for implementation and must nominate their representatives in the RJMEC working committees. We need that level of engagement from the RTGoNU that this is the time to address general and specific challenges,” he emphasised.
Njoroge expressed gratitude of in spearheading the body and affirmed that the revitalized peace agreement would always remain a significant milestone in the history of South Sudan.
“The RARCSS is and will always remain a significant milestone in the history of South Sudan. I am glad to have been involved with such a consequential period of this country’s history,” he reiterated.
Njoroge was nominated deputy of the then JMEC in January 2016, replacing the Former Botswana President Festus Mogae. He was made the Interim Chairperson of the RJMEC in September 2018 until the 17th of 2020.
Major General (Rtd) Charles Tai Gituai, the Incoming Interim Chairperson RJMEC in his remarks, expressed gratitude to H.E. President Salva Kiir Mayardit for “creating an enabling environment for the peace process and for the significant progress registered so far.”
Gituai said “I believe that the framework of the Revitalised Agreement provides a credible and fair basis and platform that lays the foundations of a sustainable peace to benefit the current and succeeding generations.”
The military graduate pledged to steer the peace implementation process to a new and progressive direction.
“On my part as the new Chair, I will endeavour to focus on giving strategic direction to the monitoring and evaluation mechanism, in overseeing the implementation of the agreement within the procedural guidelines and mandate of RJMEC.”
Gituai is a Kenyan military personality with wide and diverse experience in command, training, intelligence, staff and diplomacy with history of working in a multinational and multidimensional environment.
The general also served as the deputy chief of staff, in charge of operations, planning, and intelligence with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, where he was also the Kenya’s Contingent Commander.
He also served as colonel-general staff, Eastern Command, and later deputy commander of Fourth Infantry Brigade.
Gituai will now be in charge of RJMEC, a peace monitoring body responsible for monitoring and overseeing the implementation of the peace agreement and the mandate and the tasks of RTGoNU, including adherence of the parties to the agreed timeline and implementation schedule and other serious deficiencies as well as recommending appropriate corrective actions to the RTGoNU as provided by the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), chapter five (5) article (7.6).