Minister for Justice Stands on the Distortion of the Constitution of South Sudan
6 min readBy Deng Kur Deng, Pennsylvania, USA
January 13, 2018 (SSB) — It is obvious that the constitution is a supreme document of South Sudan. It is in place for strengthening the country. The constitution is aligned with the behaviors of good citizens and corrects those who are bound to commit bad deeds.
Unfortunately, the interpretation of law can be easily translated into a language that is not found anywhere in the constitution. Anyone can choose to translate; however, these translations often nose-dive and reach beyond the intent of the constitution. This should be a concern of every citizen. Few of our legal experts know the intent of the constitution when it comes to protection of the people—in our case, a minister of justice who has failed us miserably.
How could Minister of Justice Hon. Paulino Wanawilla depend on forged documents and based his decisions on such materials? This act coincided with framing and these are the minister of justice must be very careful when making decisions. His understanding of justice and injustice is questionable. He has treated our constitution as a covert document and acts as if one can step outside its directives to make decisions that are indistinctly connected with the constitution.
The main function of our constitution is not only to guide citizens but to shape the perceptions of those who take the law into their own hands. Leaders are meant to abide by and to ensure laws are applied according to their mandate. South Sudan’s constitution seems not to be guiding our leaders. Instead, it seems to be good only at tracing easily accessible citizens whose relatives are not in the government. Therefore, the poorly functioning side effects of the constitution are now normal.
However, we the people, have not accepted this yet. If I were to ask, “What, exactly, is the function of the constitution if it does not protect citizens, equally?” Despite the unconstitutional action taken in our case, we are appealing to the president to look at the supreme document of the land and to make the right decision. We’re also asking the minister of justice to reevaluate the concerns of those who were purposely ambushed.
The constitution is not amendable by only a few individuals, nor can it be exploited to suit the interests of those whose intentions are to dismantle the lives of others simply because they are lower in the hierarchy. The effectiveness of the constitution can only be achieved through collaboration between the president—the executive branch—and the judicial system to correct the dramatic ineffectiveness of the document of the land.
This is more practical and significantly appropriate for the collective benefit of the South Sudanese people. Those who see the violation of our constitution as an admirable tool must be brought to justice. They want to create more differences in a country that has already been divided by bitterness. This is the opposite of what the president is trying to achieve by standing with the truthfulness of the Constitution— without exploitation from those who are playing by their own separate sets of rules.
The president doesn’t see those individuals in his office or administration as disloyal; however, those in his office or administration are responsible for creating mistrust by citizens towards our leaders. Those who are violating the constitution are not important to the potential of the country. Consequently, it is imperative for the president to align himself with the constitution of the land and the people over those who have repeatedly violated many clauses of the constitution. The president must take the mandate of the constitution back to his creative problem-solving skills. Even with violation of law, our family remains encouraged by the fact that the constitution is on our side.
We are reminded that faulty perceptions of the constitution are winning over what are, constitutionally, universally acceptable, which is why the case was presented and carried out in an unbalanced approach by the minister of justice. This is unacceptable. It has reinforced aggressiveness and the excessive use of violence by those who have an attitude of entitlement in the government. As a result, they decided to play with the supreme document of the land.
Such tendencies are bound to destroy the livelihoods of South Sudanese, and not only the unlucky ones. This kind of violation is quite revealing because those who violate our constitution are easily threatened by the existence of the document. We cannot afford to lose the foundation upon which people stand. The discomfort brought by this violation cannot be avoided or dismissed in any form. We, the people, must let the president know about our discomfort in the absence of the constitution.
This has significantly affected people who are living without the protection of the constitution. Thisbringsg us to a fiercely ambitious young man named Agou John Wuoi—my cousin and he is living the agony brought upon by our officials. This young man has been placed outside the perimeters of the constitution for reasons known only to the minister of justice.
This, in and of itself, is a clear violation our constitution. The minister of justice has failed to realize the entirety of this important document. The president must not be neutral. His conscious intentions are with the people and the constitution. In our case, the challenges associated with failure of the constitution have ignored the rights of Agou John Wuoi for a fair and honest trial.
To be clear, the president did not undermine the constitution. Per the president’s intention, all 15 men were meant to be released. Those who are giving him wrong information are the major threats not only to the president, but to the very people he took an oath to protect under the mandate of the constitution. Agou’s case is very unusual in that certain individuals decided it was okay to bypass the Constitution. This is outrageously horrendous. No, you cannot just do this and walk away as if no damage was done.
Our demand is very simple: stick to the constitution. There should be no way around the constitution. That is why case of Agou seems unsolvable. In fact, it was already solved by the president when he released 14 others leaving Agou behind. Agou John Wuoi’s case must be fully recognized by our constitution.
This article was written by Deng Kur Deng AKA Raanmangar. You can contact him at pananyangajak@gmail.com
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