Max Planck Foundation conducts two workshops for the Transitional National Legislative Assembly in Juba
The workshops titled “The Role of Parliament in the Constitution Making Process” were conducted by the Foundation from 4 – 9 April 2022 within the framework of the European Union-funded project “Strengthening the Rule of Law in South Sudan”. The workshops were directed at members of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA). They sought to familiarise the parliamentarians with the framework of the constitution making process as stipulated in the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) and the Resolutions of the “Workshop on the Permanent Constitution Making Process” held in May 2021 that informed the drafting of the Constitution Making Process Bill, which will soon be tabled before the Assembly.
The workshops were officially opened by the Second Deputy Speaker of the TNLA, the Right Honourable Parmena Awerial Aluong, and one of the Managing Directors and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Projects at the Max Planck Foundation. H.E. Ambassador Christian Bader, the Head of the European Union Delegation to South Sudan, was able to join the opening of the second workshop.
The workshops covered various topics including South Sudan’s three-phased constitution making process, the institutional framework guiding the constitutional process, the oversight function of the Transitional National Legislature in the constitution making process and the role of the Constituent Assembly in the permanent constitution making process of South Sudan. Honourable Deng Tiel Kur, Honourable Albino Akol Atak and Honourable Gatwech Lam Puoch, all serving members of the TNLA, sought to explain to the parliamentarians the process leading up to and including the May 2021 “Workshop on the Making of a Permanent Constitution of South Sudan”, which was facilitated by the Max Planck Foundation, and the Workshop’s resultant’s Resolutions.
The workshops were officially closed by the Majority Chief Whip of the TNLA, Hon. Rebecca Joshua Okwaci and the Second Deputy Speaker of the TNLA, the Right Honourable Parmena Awerial Aluong, respectively, who both expressed their satisfaction with the conduct of the workshops and their importance to South Sudan’s constitution making process. They also expressed the TNLA’s gratitude to the Max Planck Foundation for facilitating the workshop and the European Union for its financial support.