A high-profile workshop to deliberate the blueprints of the constitution[1]making process hit ground running at Freedom Hall and later Palm Africa Hotel in Juba last week. It was not only a depiction of pomp and colour as speakers took to the stage to air their thoughts; but the thirst and hunger for a new face of South Sudan was obvious.

The workshop, which was facilitated by German-based Max Planck Foundation and Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), was to provide the avenue for making recommendations for the committee that will be sitting to draft the permanent constitution under the guidance of the ministry of justice and constitutional affairs.

These stakeholders were to front the unresolved issues from the 2018 High Level Revitalisation Forum. That it attracted a number of stakeholders of the peace was in itself a manifestation of the huge magnitude of the event.

The representative parties involved in the workshop were TGoNU, SPLM/A[1]IO, South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), Former Detainees and Other Opposition Parties (OPP). The other stakeholders are faith-based leaders, Women Bloc, Women’s Coalition, Civil Society Coalition, Eminent Personalities, Business Groups, Academia and Youths. Diplomats such as UNMISS boss Nicholas Haysom and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok were also in attendance.

 Passionate appeal

When called upon to deliver a final speech of the day that would declare the launch of the workshop, President Salva Kiir Mayardit talked of myriad of challenges that have faced the implementation of the 2018 peace deal. He was open with his critics who have voiced concerns over the slow pace of the peace deal saying it has never been that easy.

“Unfortunately that delay is being misunderstood by some of our partners and interpreted as lack of political [good will] from our part and I have been saying these things that the people who designed this agreement did not intend to let it to be implemented,” he said.

 But even as he expressed his frustrations over the challenges that have affected his tenure, it is undeniable that lack of a proper legal document has cost the country big. For example, the country currently relies on the transitional constitution that was drafted after independence nearly 10 years ago.

The document is shallow and does not stipulate into details on how to handle various issues pertaining to government structures and matters of affirmative action like according opportunities the youth, women, people with disability and so on. Hence, the president was on top of his game when he called for an all-inclusive law. With the ethnic and class divisions in our society, this country cannot risk to have laws that will favour certain ethnic groups with political acumen and resources to consolidate power at the behest of groups languishing on the peripheries. A proper law will ensure equitable distribution of resources and power sharing formula in a democratic phase.

 Such can allow all the South Sudanese people to share positions in all the three arms of government and also get a share of state resources. In addition, the constitution should be able to address public revenue or resource management. As we speak of now, the auditor general has produced a report nailing down the ministry of finance and the central bank, accusing the two entities of slacking leading to the misappropriation of the oil revenue. Nonetheless, these losses were inevitably aggravated by lack of proper legal structures. Although individuals are to blame for this massive theft; the legal gap can be addressed so that public resources are modestly managed and proceeds reach the bonafide beneficiaries.

 Women are still struggling with the campaigns to ensure inclusion under the 35 per cent gender principle. In the recent appointments, only a few states were compliant with this legal provision. With a proper law in place, it will be easier to recall a skewed list of nominees to force the appointing authority to follow the law. The ministry of justice and constitutional affairs and the constitution-making committee have the obligation to put the country on the right path by making the right permanent constitution. They can do it