Activist urges gov’t to pass transitional justice bill

JUBA, MAY 19, 2023 (SUDANS POST) –  A prominent South Sudan activist is calling on the unity government to present the government to pass the transitional justice bills and submit it to the parliament for ratification.

In an interview with Sudans Post on Thursday, Activist Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) called on the ministry of justice to table bills related to the transitional justice before the council of ministers.

“The legislations are supposed to table to the parliament by the minister of justice and if you ask me to give the timeline, I wish this week, the minister of justice should table the legislation before the council of ministers and should be passed by the council of ministers to the parliament,” he said.

Yakani said the two draft bills will pave way for the establishment of the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation, and Healing and Compensation and Reparation Authority provided for in the revitalized peace agreement’s chapter 5.

“The appeal I have as an activist to the Presidency is that they need to accelerate this process otherwise they will increase public mistrust and lack of confidence in the leadership politically in delivering the country through using transitional justice,” he said.

The outspoken civil society activist further described the transitional justice as an important process that will make South Sudanese decide on the destiny they want.

“This required political commitment, and this requires political discipline from our leaders because they have delayed it for the last three years, these are processes to be brought up a long time ago,” Yakani said.

“We need to forgive each other, we need to reconcile, we need to be compensated and we need to get reparation services,” he added.