the minister in his office, assembly building

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs is one of the ministries of Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS), its main role is to take charge of government business in the Assembly and also to coordinate between the executive and legislative arms of the government.
It is also to strengthen the ties between the 24 government ministries and the legislative through Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MPA). The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs was one of the last established Ministries by H.E the first vice President of the Republic and the President of the Government of Southern Sudan 1st Lt. Gen. Salva Kirr Mayardit charged with an important mandate in the political field in Southern Sudan.

The Ministry has embarked on training of cadres in both the Executive and Legislative organs especially MPs which is along term programme that begun late 2006, plans are in the pipeline to train government secretariats to build their capacities, its will entail both domestic and foreign attachment and training.. All these steps are geared towards reviving the culture of peace and democracy throughout Southern Sudan. The Ministry also strives to create the spirit of democratic practices among the eight political parties that forms GOSS through the Ministry the political parties operate to revive the political work by organizing political forums, cultural nights especially the major parties like the SPLM and NCP

Another major role of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs based on the mandate of the President of GOSS, is reactivation of the good Governance and Democracy in Southern Sudan, to enable the Southern masses to get involved in politics to become part and partial of their daily life. This is one of the measures it uses to ensure success in the democratic work leading to social transformation. This would enable us avoid the political differences which would lead to lack of political instability in Southern Sudan.

The Ministry strongly strives to achieve these two strategic objectives in this year.
We could also presume that half of the interim period has elapsed and we are approaching the Referendum in the year 2011

This necessitate the importance of achieving the first goal which is the coordination of the two organs i.e. the Executive and the Legislative, and improvement of performance , communication, and exchange of information within the framework of transparency, and accountability. These is believed to create high moral to under take necessary decisions which would in turn ;lead to good governance in Southern Sudan

The Ministry presently plans to establish a new directorate to be named as the Directorate of state affairs expected to coordinate the state programmes of the ten Southern States besides executing the objectives of the Ministry. This would lead to the strengthening of the relations between the GOSS in Juba, and the States governments.

Among the Ministry’s core departments are, governance in  which provides monthly Reports on the Resolutions of the Council of Ministers forwarding it to the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA) if necessary .
The legislative department, summarizes the proceedings or sittings of the Assembly , and the Bills enacted by the Assembly to the Council of Ministers for implementation, and other issues that might arise from the States which requires the intervention of GOSS.

The Ministry also facilitates the role of the leader of the government business in all the Southern States Legislatives Assemblies because he/she is the responsible person charged to coordinate the Assembly business, and present all the Resolutions of the Assembly besides promotion collective work. Also the Ministry is responsible in coordinating the Ministry with the Civil society organizations represented in the Associations, activities that they carry, the democratic work, constructive participation through the internal and external field visits, to share information, and experience to raise the level of friendship with the neighboring countries and the world at large

In conclusion, the ministry has accomplished its duty in creating an atmosphere for all the political parties to participate by enlightening the public about the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
 Ahead of us, are the outstanding issues of interest (the up coming Population Census, the mid term elections, and the Referendum considered as the base for the Political work in Southern Sudan.
Within the framework of the exchange visits, the Ministry will coordinate and organize visits with its counterpart in the Government of National Unity and all countries supportive to the CPA. 

Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro
Minister
Parliamentary Affairs
2008