By William Madouk
A group of constitutional lawyers has filed a petition with the Supreme Court, challenging the national unity government’s recent extension of the transition period by 2 years.
Addressing reporters shortly after submitting the petition to Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut at the Judiciary premises in Juba, Advocate Deng John Deng said they are challenging the legality of the extension.
“We submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court in the Republic of South Sudan; we challenged the legality and constitutionality of the extension of the transitional period for 24 months,” said Deng.
“As lawyers, we think that this extension is unconstitutional, is illegal and we demanding our government to conduct elections within the timeframe,” he added.
Barrister Deng who spoke on behalf of his four other colleagues said they want the court to consider the extension null and void.
“We want the court to declare the extension of the transitional period unconstitutional and null and void and we want the court to order the government to conduct elections within the timeframe,” he noted.
“We submitted the constitutional petition to the office of the Chief Justice and we will follow up our petition on Wednesday this week. From there we will give more details,” he continued.
The advocates cited that the petition was based on the Transitional constitution of South Sudan, 2011 that provides “government must not extend but hold elections at the end of the transition period.”
The advocates who are critical of the extension of the transition period are: Deng John Deng, Kur Lual Kur, Warnyang Kiir Warnayng, Ador Abraham Kot, and Santo Daniel Deng.
Meanwhile, lawyer Sawhida Deng, who is also a rights activist, said she was astonished by the courage shown by those advocates, adding that it shows that South Sudanese are capable and aware of current events.
However, Mrs. Sawhida cites Articles 8.2 and 8.3 of the 2018 peace deal which says ‘in the event that the provisions of the TCRSS, 2011 (as amended) conflicts with the terms of this Agreement, the terms of this Agreement shall prevail.’
She added that Article 8.4 also gives parties to the agreement “A right to amend the agreement, consented by cabinets, R-JMEC and the parliament and be incorporated in the constitution.”
“We will be observing, and we can see the constitution Article mentioned in a petition – so, we know what would be a response from the supreme court, but we will observe as the rights activist,” cited lawyer Sawhida.
On Saturday, President Salva Kiir signed a constitutional amendment extending the country’s transitional period by two years, officially postponing elections initially set for December 2024 to December 2026.
The amendment, known as Constitutional Amendment Number 12, was ratified by the National Legislature on Friday during an extraordinary session.
The decision follows a consensus reached by the presidency and key stakeholders to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement to extend the transitional period from February 2025 to February 2027.