South Sudan rejects nomination of Kenyan lawyer for constitutional committee
November 6, 2015 (JUBA)- South Sudanese government on Friday rejected the nomination of a Kenyan jurist to lead the national constitutional amendment Committee which has to prepare a permanent constitution.
The east-African bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which mediated peace talks to end the South Sudanese conflict, nominated Lumumba in August after the signing of the peace agreement by the government and armed opposition faction allied to the former vice president Riek Machar.
“IGAD made their nomination and gave us the name of Professor Lumumba, who caused us a problem and we rejected him because we know him very well. He is not impartial. He is an SPLM-IO person, even though he is a Kenyan”, Lueth announced at a news conference in Juba on Thursday.
The government is ready to accepts the appointment of any IGAD nominee from any country, including Kenya “but the person they nominates must be credible and neutral. He must be a person who has no links and ties with anybody to the conflict. The nominee of the IGAD must be impartial and someone acceptable to all the parties than Lumumba”, said Lueth.
Lumumba who is the Director of The Kenya School of Laws. In the past he served also as the Director of Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.
In line with the signed peace agreement, IGAD will nominate an external expert with strong legal background to oversee constitutional review and amendment.
The national constitutional review committee shall be composed of eight members representing the parties to the peace agreement.
Also, the legal body has 12 months during the transitional period to finalize its task and to prepare a draft of needed amendments.
(ST)