The Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly clerk Makuac Makuac has expressed optimism that the registration for the August House will finish this week to pave way for the swearing-in.

“The registration which started earlier last week was going on well, I think by next (this) week, most of the MPs would have finished the registration,” Makuac told City Review.

Although some MPs are still not yet in Juba, he believes that most of them will beat the deadline and be registered in preparation for the oath.

“We are waiting to complete the registrations this week, and if finished, then what we can do is to forward the recommendation to the presidency and from there they decide when the swearing-in will take place,” he added.

When asked whether the appointment of the heads of the specialised committees in the parliament will be formed before the swearing-in of the MPs, he said, “No, the [appointment of] heads of the specialised committees within the parliament will happen after the swearing-in of the MPs.”

Clerk begins process

Last week Monday, the clerk wrote to all the newly-appointed members of both the upper and lower house to register with the august house within a week after which they will be sworn in.

According to the clerk, those members whose appointments were revoked through a presidential decree will not be registered.

Makuac said the registration process will continue for five working days, adding that if they record three-quarters of the members; they will then write to the office of the president to alert him that they are ready for swearing-in.

“After that, the president will issue a letter identifying the date and the procedures of sitting and the inauguration before the sitting takes place. The first meeting will be for electing the speakers and then they take over and then they wait for inauguration when the president will come and deliver his speech,” Makuac said.

The clerk advised the people to remain calm, saying the two houses of the national parliament will commence business soon.

“This parliament will provide a conducive environment for the lawmakers while doing their duties especially in the coming first session because it is vital to have peace in the country. We must make sure that the assembly functions,” he added.

Some parliamentarians who finished their registration told City Review that they have been waiting for the swearing in adding that ‘‘we are grateful that the long awaited functional peace parliament is almost ready’’.

Dickson Alex Alia, a member of parliament representing Mundri in Western Equatoria State on the ticket of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) said it has been long overdue that the parliament should have been functional which made their citizens worried.

“The issue of budget is the critical issue that the parliament needs to quickly sit, debate and pass the budget because I remember since we started, the budget for the peace agreement was not discussed, allocated and passed” Alia said.

He added that since they are going to be sworn in soon after their registration the most important thing that the parliament will do is to table the budget and pass it.

He expressed optimism that the peace agreement’s implementation process which is slowly on truck will be fully realized.

Meanwhile Majur Babor SPLM Member of Parliament commended the start of the registration process which has been behind schedule.

According to Babor the national parliament has two priority tasks that they should first begin with.

“First the national budget, the country has been two years now without budget that is running activities of the country and indeed this parliament is a peace parliament so without it most of the issues that are supposed to happen around the peace implementation will not include the permanent constitution which needs parliament to enact quickly as time runs” he disclosed. He said the August house is much more needed to function as soon as possible so that it handles the two national legislations that’s; the national budget and the national constitution which is under drafting.