The Permanent Constitution making process is not a preserve of the political parties or signatories to the peace agreement but it should be a holistic process that includes everyone, the activists have argued.

The activists said nobody should feel threatened or intimidated to speak his or her mind in constitution-making process.

They described process as “citizens  owned constitution -making  process “ but not peace talk’s process mock-up  where political leaders and stakeholders  themselves decide  key issues of the  country.

“The Permanent constitution making process needs peace and stability where citizens can be able to assemble themselves. It also needs a conducive environment where there is freedom of expression, everybody should be able to express their mind,” Edmund Yakani, Executive Director for Community Empowerment Progress Organization (CEPO) told City Review in an interview.

He said the government should implement the chapter II of the revitalised peace agreement that stipulated the security arrangement. He said in case the guns are still in the hands of armed forces and some civilians; the peace process is bound to fail.  

“Chapter two of the revitalised peace agreement should be implemented for the protection because as long as the guns still in the hands of the people the citizens will be able to express their view in fear of being killed,” he said.

Embargo question

Last week the government said that the renewal of the armed embargo will undermine the implementation of the revitalised peace agreement signed in 2018 because by disrupting the planned graduation of the unified forces.

 In his part, Executive Director for Okay Africa Foundation, Michael Wani, posted in his Facebook page that the citizens were not informed about the whole Permanent Constitution Making process and this limited citizen’s consultations on its design as the delegates concluded the workshop last week .

“What precedent are we setting? How do we expect the citizens to full participate in this process that they didn’t participate in designing it from the beginning,” he posted.

 He said RTGoNU must open and guarantee both the political and civil spaces for people to fully and meaningfully participate and engage in the permanent law-making process.

“Nobody should feel threatened or intimidated to speak his or her mind. RTGoNU must guarantee security to its entire people during the process. Just like the National Dialogue, nobody should be targeted for speaking out and respect people’s opinions because this is their process not yours,” he said.

The representatives of the youth from all the institutions including National Youth Union and those in the diaspora presented their issues pertaining to permanent constitution-making process launched during the workshop.

They said on the National Constitution Review Commission (NCRC) should be reconstituted   in accordance with the provision of the revitalised peace agreement and the act governing the constitution making process.  

The parties and stakeholders shall submit their list of nominees from their respective constituencies to the NCRC and Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs who will present the lists to the parliament for vetting and approval.

In the letter, they also said the president shall appoint the member of the Reconstituted National Constitution Review Commission after the Parliament approval.

The compositions of the NCRC shall be 55 with equal representatives from the parties and stakeholders      and there shall be twenty percent of the youth representatives in the commission.

The Commission Secretary shall be a youth and also will be charged with overseeing the civic education and public consultation program.