South Sudan’s jitters over Kiir’s powers

South Sudanese celebrate their Independence in July. Picture: File

By FRED OLUOCH

Hardly a month after South Sudan officially broke away from the North, there are murmurs over the suitability of the interim Constitution that was signed into law by President Salva Kiir during the declaration of the republic.

A number of South Sudanese are concerned that it is not ideal for a young nation set to embrace democratic ideals after 50 years of suppression.

One of the most contentious issues is that the renewed regional Constitution that governed the South as a semi-autonomous entity makes the president of South Sudan one of the most powerful in Africa: He or she cannot be impeached by parliament. The president has the power to prorogue the parliament of any of the 10 states, sack the governor and call for elections within three months.

“The president and the governor all draw their mandate from the electorate. What happens if after three months, the electorate of the affected state choose to vote back to power the sacked governor?” Agency For Independent Media executive director David De Dau asked.

No cause for alarm

But some argue this will work just fine saying, as a young nation, South Sudan needs a strong executive to oversee the maturation of the 10 states.

According to Mr Dau, the structure of the government is broad-based, requiring the president to be as inclusive as possible, which in effect means there will be no opposition.

The interim Constitution is meant to govern the country for the remaining four years until the next general election. The new nation is expected to come up with a more representative constitution within the stipulated period.

However, Bishop Gabriel Roric, a member of both the Technical Constitutional Review Committee, and the National Congress Party (NCP), argues that even though the committee simply lifted the powerful presidency from the Khartoum Constitution and placed it in the interim South Sudan Constitution, it is understandable at this early stage of nationhood.

He noted that some of the Southerners wanted a federal system in which all the 10 states become autonomous and stay in a federal system.

“After a protracted debate, we agreed that South Sudan is a newborn child and we cannot have two children being born at the same time,” said Mr Roric, and added that the presidential powers to intervene should only be exercised when things go out of hand.

While some people might have misgivings over the interim Constitution, the SPLM top command has assured the new republic that the four years of the republic will be used for wider consultation that will culminate in a permanent Constitution of South Sudan.

The debate started immediately the Technical Constitutional Review Committee was constituted in March. The outcry then was that the Sudanese people did not only nominate the first 16 members’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) at the expense of 23 other political parties, but was driven by a clique around the president who were becoming increasingly powerful.

The civil society and faith-based institutions were initially left out. However, the outcry led to the increase of the number of committee members to 25 where every stakeholder was included. Still Mr Dau argues that the outcome means that the executive has usurped law-making functions and powers of the National Assembly.

He cited the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) that forwards the bills to parliament as one institution that is dominated by the SPLM. It is natural that a Bill brought to parliament would be automatically passed in a legislature that is 75 per cent SPLM.