SPLM-IO official expresses optimism for reforms as Kiir dissolves parliament

JUBA – A senior South Sudan main armed opposition official has expressed optimism after President Salva Kiir’s dissolution of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly and the Council of States saying reconstituted parliament will ushered in reforms and multiparty democracy in the world’s youngest country.

In a republic decree on Saturday night, Kiir dissolved the TNLA and the Council of States and a source close to the South Sudanese head of state said the new peace “parliament is expected to be formed earlier next week, more likely on Monday.”

The Parliament that has been “an old wine in a new bottle” has finally been dissolved,  one year into the Transitional Period,” Nathaniel Pierino, a member of the National Constitutional Amendment Committee representing the SPLM-IO said. “Its reconstitution and expansion shall be a great milestone towards reforms and Multi Party democracy.”

Pierino who was a SPLM-IO governor of the defunct Imatong state expressed important of legislative body in any democracy stressing that the rule of law is always above all.

“In this age, in this centuary, no one should be allowed to  run a government with impunity and without accountability, checks and balances. The state is bigger than any individual,” he said.

The revitalized peace agreement was signed by the government and the SPLM-IO in September 2018 in Addis Ababa following months of negotiation in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

The agreement provides for reconstitution of the parliament purposely to accommodate several opposition groups who are part of the peace agreement.