The Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba, said the parliament presented foreign issues for discussion because no national issues had been raised. The speaker was responding to criticism of Monday's parliamentary sitting agenda.
The agenda included a presentation of a report on the
fact-finding mission regarding the violence and armed conflict in the Eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo from July 2023 to March 2025, as well as the
Fifteenth Ordinary Session of the Plenary Assembly of the Forum of Parliaments
of Member States of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.
The presentation made by Charles Majak Aleer Deng, head of
the delegation to the Forum, which was held in Luanda, Angola, faced criticism
from MPs and civil society activists.
Hon. Anei Deng Akok, a member of parliament representing
Northern Bahr el Ghazal State from the SPLM-IO, said it would have been better
for the parliament to discuss economic issues that directly affect citizens.
"My information is to the leadership of this house. Instead of discussing the crisis of
Congo, why don’t we discuss our issues? Now in South Sudan, we are in a very
critical time. People are suffering,” said Deng.
Another item on the agenda was a report on the 2025 Regional
Innovative Stakeholder Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, organized by the Eastern Nile
Technical Regional Office on Water Resources and Irrigation.
“It’s puzzling when national legislative bodies focus on
foreign issues or events that might not be directly relevant to the country’s
most pressing problems,” said Ter Manyang Gatwech, Executive Director of the
Center for Peace and Advocacy.
In response, Speaker Nunu said none of the MPs had raised a
motion on pressing national issues for discussion.
“It is the issue that is raised by Honorable Members of
Parliament that is to be discussed. The committee on the Great Lakes region did
their work, they went and attended the meeting, and they are coming to report
to the House,” Nunu stated.
“Nobody among you [MPs] raised the issue of inflation,
nobody raised any problem facing the people of South Sudan, and we refused to
discuss.”
The Speaker directed MPs to write and submit motions
on national issues, including the high cost of living, for discussion in the
House, as parliamentarians’ constitutional mandate.
“The issues we are raising, put it in writing, and then we
talk about them and discuss. This is the oversight role that we are mandated to
do. So, you are the one to raise these issues, to initiate the motion, and we
request the relevant people to come and explain,” she said.
The parliament ended Monday’s sitting with adoption of a report on the fact-finding mission regarding the violence and armed conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo from July 2023 to March 2025, as well as the Fifteenth Ordinary Session of the Plenary Assembly of the Forum of Parliaments of Member States of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.
