South Sudan’s defence minister declines to appear before lawmakers
April 22, 2020 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s Defence Minister declined to appear before the lawmakers saying their term has ended and should be replaced by a new transitional parliament in line with the revitalized peace pact.
Angeline had been summoned by the Transitional National Legislature Taskforce for COVID-19 to explain the army role in the country’s efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus and prevent continuing cross-border movements from neighbouring countries.
In a letter seen by Sudan Tribune to the Deputy Speaker for Parliamentary Affairs at the legislative assembly on 16 April, Angelina Teny said the current parliament is supposed to be replaced by the reconstituted TNLA by the end of the pre-transitional period.
“The last function of the IG-INLA is the ratification of the constitution amendment bill” Teny added before to stress “The IG-INLA has no mandate to extend its life”.
“Given the above-mentioned reasons, I cannot appear before the IG-TNLA until a reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly is formed. However, I recognize your concern regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.”
In a recent report about the implementation process covering the period of January until end of March 2020, the monitoring body, RJMEC, said that the Pre-Transitional Period and National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC) since last February requested the parties to nominate their representatives
“To date, the FDs is the only party that has submitted the list of its nominees,” said the RJMEC in its report.
According to the revitalized peace agreement, the 550 seats of the transitional legislative assembly will be divided as follows: 332 for the SPLM-IG, 128 for the SPLM-IO, 50 for the SSOA, 30 for the OPP and 10 for the FDs.
(ST)