{"id":46321,"date":"2026-07-23T15:15:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=46321"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:15:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:15:42","slug":"a-constitution-written-only-in-juba-would-not-work-says-speaker-joseph-ngere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/a-constitution-written-only-in-juba-would-not-work-says-speaker-joseph-ngere\/","title":{"rendered":"A constitution written only in Juba would not work, says Speaker Joseph Ngere"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Transitional National Legislative Assembly Speaker, Joseph Ngere Paciko, urges MPs to take constitutional consultations to the grassroots as the Max Planck Foundation reaffirms support for a people-led constitution-making process.<\/p>\n

Speaker Joseph has stressed that the country’s permanent constitution must be written by its people rather than by officials in Juba, calling for an inclusive national consultation process that reflects the aspirations of all citizens.<\/p>\n

During a two-day National Constitution Review Commission (NCRC)-led Civic Education and Public Consultations Workshop on the Primer on Federal Governance in Juba on Wednesday, Paciko said the permanent constitution would serve as the country’s supreme law for generations and must therefore be owned by the people.<\/p>\n

“We are at a historic and momentous time. The making of the permanent constitution for South Sudan is the essence of the covenant between our citizens and the government,” Paciko told participants.<\/p>\n

“However, a constitution written only in Juba would not work. Therefore, the permanent constitution must be written by the people.”<\/p>\n

The workshop, running from 22 to 23 July 2026, brought together members of parliament, constitutional experts, development partners, and officials involved in South Sudan’s constitution-making process to strengthen civic education and public participation on the first draft constitutional document.<\/p>\n

Paciko described the second phase of civic education and public consultations as critical, saying it provides citizens with an opportunity to examine and comment on the draft constitution before it is finalised.<\/p>\n

He emphasised that people must fully understand the contents of the permanent constitution and be allowed to determine how they wish to be governed.<\/p>\n

“The people must understand what the permanent constitution is all about. They must be given the space to say how they want to be governed,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Speaker called on members of parliament to act as a bridge between the government and citizens by taking the consultation process to their constituencies and listening to the concerns of ordinary South Sudanese.<\/p>\n

He urged legislators to engage communities not as politicians but as public servants committed to ensuring that every voice is heard.<\/p>\n

Paciko also stressed the importance of ensuring that women, youth, traditional leaders, persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, business communities, faith groups, farmers, and pastoralists actively participate in shaping the country’s future constitution.<\/p>\n

He encouraged MPs to use local languages, cultural performances, drums, and music to spread awareness about the constitution-making process at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n

“The Transitional National Legislature stands ready to support and legislate in good faith when the draft is brought before us,” Paciko said.<\/p>\n

“Our people are waiting. Let us give them a constitution of their own and a future they can live in.”<\/p>\n

Also addressing the workshop, Dr. Kathrin Scherr, Senior Legal Expert at the Max Planck Foundation, said the organization has worked alongside South Sudanese institutions for the past 15 years, providing legal advice and capacity-building support to all branches of government.<\/p>\n

She said the foundation considers it a privilege to support the country’s constitutional development and praised the longstanding cooperation with parliament and the National Constitution Review Commission.<\/p>\n

According to Dr. Scherr, South Sudan is currently implementing the first phase of the permanent constitution-making process as provided for under Chapter Six of the Revitalised Peace Agreement and the Constitution-Making Process Act of 2022.<\/p>\n

She explained that the NCRC is mandated to conduct civic education and public consultations on key constitutional issues, including discussions on the country’s future federal system of governance.<\/p>\n

Dr. Scherr noted that public consultation campaigns have already been successfully conducted across the country’s ten states and three administrative areas, as well as through outreach activities targeting national institutions.<\/p>\n

She described the achievements of the NCRC as remarkable despite persistent financial constraints.<\/p>\n

“Despite a lack of funding from the national government, the members of the commission, supported by a dedicated secretariat, have continued to demonstrate exemplary commitment to this noble cause,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Scherr reaffirmed the commitment of the European Union and the Max Planck Foundation to supporting an inclusive constitution-making process that allows citizens to freely express their views.<\/p>\n

She emphasised that parliament will play a decisive role in the final stages of the process, when both houses of parliament, sitting as the Constituent Assembly, will review and approve the final constitutional text before it is submitted to the president for assent.<\/p>\n

She therefore urged lawmakers to remain actively engaged and well informed throughout the process.<\/p>\n

Dr. Scherr also expressed appreciation to the European Union for its continued financial support since the signing of the 2018 peace agreement, noting that the funding has enabled the Max Planck Foundation to assist the NCRC through workshops, technical expertise, and civic education initiatives.<\/p>\n

She welcomed the participation of European Union Charg\u00e9 d’Affaires Lothar Jaschke and EU Programme Manager Ines Naltissou, saying their presence demonstrated the EU’s continued commitment to supporting South Sudan’s peace and constitutional transition.<\/p>\n

The two-day workshop is expected to strengthen legislators’ understanding of federal governance and equip them to facilitate public engagement as South Sudan advances toward adopting its first permanent constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku The Transitional National Legislative Assembly Speaker, Joseph Ngere Paciko, urges MPs to take constitutional consultations to the grassroots as the Max Planck Foundation reaffirms support for a people-led constitution-making process. Speaker Joseph has stressed that the country’s permanent constitution must be written by its people rather than[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Speaker-Joseph-Ngere.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46323,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46321\/revisions\/46323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}