The Interim Draft Constitution of South Sudan is a SPLM Constitution.

The Interim draft constitution for South Sudan reviewed by SPLM constitution review committee and handed over to Salva Kiir, is a valueless document, to say the least. Because it is not inclusive.

A constitution is a document to reflect the constituents of a particular defined region, area, or an organization, let alone when it is for a country of diverse ethnicities. The gambit tactics deployed by the ruling party in South Sudan the SPLM after having rigged the elections of April 2010 has loss faith in the people of the south and thus could not guarantee winning of any future elections, this is reflected in commandeering the transitional period and claims the defunct mandate from stolen elections to acclaim four years of transition from the 9th of July 2011. It was very clear that the spirit for counterfeiting was surfacing at the time the Chairman of SPLM and President of GOSS decreed a 24- man constitution review committee almost from SPLM except one, without referring to the October South-South dialogue provisions. After complaint by alliance of South Sudan Political Parties to Salva Kiir, he was scratching is head in shame with a notion of having made a mistake, he included 11 persons from ASSPP,1 from civil society and 2 from faith based groups, the turmoil settled down in that meeting of February 16-17th .

To ascertain my point that the diabolic strategy was brewing, hardly four days had elapsed till Salva issued another presidential decree appointing 17 more members to CRC the total number had risen to 55 people. This bulky committee ceased to be a technical committee for review an Interim constitution, but became a real political committee meant for a democratic show down between SPLM and others(SSPP& Civil society) which was unfair in the beginning as a number of 12 can not manage against a mechanical majority thrice its number. Therefore it can be said with certainty that the position of the Chairman of SPLM was just a tactic to buy time and to fool the SSPP and the people of the south that they are for inclusiveness as the D-day is approaching, a similar course they deployed about the referendum time when they accepted the South-South dialogue as a ploy . However, what had been practiced by SPLM members of CRC on other non-SPLM members i.e. SSPP and the civil society members was a sophisticated frustrating maneuver to let them quit. Thanks to clear heart of thinking among the SSPP members who envisage not to play the role of rubber stamping SPLM desire by walking out. Those members who stayed on were not able change an iota if not fostered by SPLM. One of the people who remained in; is Angelo Beda who admitted having not been effective in changing any thing put forward by SPLM, and deemed not appropriate for the new country to be announced soon.

We have studied the draft constitution word by word and are justified to call the document "SPLM CONSTITUTION" and has no bearing what so ever on the Republic of South Sudan except for the title.

Why many southern people think that this constitution never represents them.

The Salient Features of the Draft Constitution:

1. There is no provision for power sharing with other Southern political parties.

2. The Transitional period of 4 years as from 9th of July 2011(Article:66,100 and163(5), is very long.

3. Centralization of Powers. For example:

a. The President is given powers to remove a Governor and dissolve the State Legislative Assembly(Article 192(r and s).

b. Appointment of Ministers in the States is made with consultation with the President(Article 164(2)).

c. The schedule on the powers of the State is trimmed down(points 7,12,18,29 and 44 are struck off).

d. The State is stripped of its powers in relations to the police(Article:115(1) ), and other uniform forces. It is left with running the State prisons reformatories( a new point 12 on the Schedule).

e. Avoidance of defining the decentralization as Federal system.

4.An attempt to control the national Constitutional Conference(Article:200 and 201).

5.Introduction of a new chamber of parliament(Council of States),which is a matter that needs Southern consensus and is not of transitional nature.

6.Members of National Assembly in Khartoum are added onto the numbers of the SSLA to constitute the new ‘'National Legislative Assembly''. This will have a membership of about 270, almost all of them from the SPLM.

7.The Leader of the Opposition is now to be known as ‘'Minority of Leader'', an unfamiliar terminology in Sudan.

8.Introduction of the position of ‘'Deputy Minister''.

9.The Abyei Area is added to the South without due regard to the provisions of the CPA on the matter. This a tantamount to talking a unilateral decision on the issue.

10.No specific mention of a date for the general elections at the end of transitional period.

B- GENERAL OBJECTIONS.

1. Exclusion of the Southern Political parties from the transition process is a violation of the resolutions of the all Southern Sudanese Political Parties Conference.

Our position continue to be 50:50

2.The transitional period is long.

Our position is 18-21 months.

3.No justification for the suggested reconstitution of the SSLA and introduction of the Council State, except to accommodate the SPLM members in the national legislature in Khartoum. If the elections were to be the reason, then why make appointments to the Council of States (Article 54) and the National legislature (64(3))? Furthermore, members of the National Assembly in Khartoum were elected for a different parliament in a different country, Sudan.

Our position is for a national Assembly of 170 members appointed as per 50:50 ratio.

4.The Abyei must be handled with care.

5.There must be no ambiguity on that the system of the rule in the Republic of South Sudan is FEDRERALISM.

6.The position of a ‘'Deputy Minister'' is unnecessary during the transitional period, for the ministerial load can easily be discharged by the minister concerned.