Nomination of South Sudan's EALA members revoked

The Attorney General and Speaker of the Transitional Assembly of South Sudan have revoked the nomination of nine Members to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), according to information from the regional court.

The First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) had granted an interim ex parte order restraining the Assembly (EALA) from administering the oath of office, or otherwise recognising nominees from the Republic of South Sudan pending the hearing inter partes on Thursday (June 15, 2017).

A citizen of South Sudan, Wani Santino Jada had filed an application against the Attorney General of South Sudan, the Speaker of the Parliament of the same country and the Secretary General of the East African Community and at the at the ex parte hearing said that on or about March 11, 2017, the President of the Republic of South Sudan appointed nine persons to represent the country in EALA, but was in violation of Article 50 of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community.

Article 50 of the treaty for the establishment of the EAC says that the National Assembly of each Partner States shall elect, not from among its members, nine members of the Assembly, who shall represent as much as it is feasible, the various political parties represented in the National Assembly, shades of opinion, gender and other special interest groups in that Partner State, in accordance with such procedure as the National Assembly of each Partner State may determine.

On June15, 2017, the First Instance Division heard an inter parties Application file by Wani Santido.

"The Applicant represented by Donald Deya withdrew the Application after the consent by the Representatives of the Attorney General of South Sudan (1st Respondent) and the Speaker of the Transitional Legislative Assembly of the same (2nd Respondent)," the Court said.

"The two Respondents revoked the nomination of the nine (9) members to East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) as indicated in Resolution No. 04/2017, dated 13th June 2017 and adopted by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly of the government of South Sudan," it added.

The Attorney General and the Speaker, the Court said, also committed that they will hold fresh election which will meet the requirements of Article 50 of the Treaty for the establishment of the East African Community.

"The Secretary General of EAC 3rd Respondent also committed to provide a concise legal opinion and otherwise assist the 1st & 2nd Respondents to the best of his ability to abide by the requirements of the Treaty."