State-Building Working Group Chairman Mohammed Ali Marim said on Monday that NDC working groups should focus on the core of the issues in the coming period in an effort to encourage the convergence of views.

“We have to examine with precision the duties and topics of each working group and what each should come out with in the end in order for group leadership figures to be held to account for underperformance,” said Marim.

The State-Building Working Group is handling seven topics, including on state structure, identity, the electoral system, and the judicial system. It is understood that this group’s duties largely depend on other groups’ outcomes.

Members of the group are preparing for the NDC’s second stage, even though they have yet to complete any recommendations or finalize any decisions during the conference’s first session.

Marim added that during the conference’s second stage, every political group would be given three to four days to look into each group’s topics and that then points of convergence among the groups’ visions could be located.

“We hope that we won’t go to the Consensus Committee,” he said.

Various members of the State-Building Working Group have expressed satisfaction over what they have so far achieved. They said there are no hindrances and that they are simply waiting until a solution is found for the southern issue.

Group member Yahya Al-Shuaibi said, “There are no hindrances at the NDC… what is happening is simply a difference of opinions and the absence of consensus on certain issues,” he said.

Thuraya Dammaj, also a member of the group, said the State-Building Working Group is standing on the threshold of a crucial turning point with regard to the NDC’s outcomes.

“The outcomes of other working groups will flow into our group, for us to address them and decide on the matter of their inclusion in the new constitution,” said Dammaj.