South Sudan lawmakers to take oath next week

July 24, 2021 (JUBA) – Members of Parliament appointed to the Transitional National Legislature Assembly (TNLA) will be sworn in next week, President Salva Kiir announced on Friday.

He made the remarks during a meeting convened to discuss structures of the country’s ruling party (SPLM) and conduct general briefing on the recently appointed party members to the TNLA.

The President urged the SPLM members to remain united if the governing party is to achieve its goals and vision for the country.

Early this year, Kiir reconstituted both the upper and lower houses of the national assembly, but its new members are yet to be sworn-in.

“All this time we have been saying we will do it next week. The next week is becoming come next year. It has to be done immediately,” explained Kiir.

So, it is better that we do it this time so that it relieves us,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kiir nominated the acting SPLM Secretary-General, Jemma Nunu Kumba as the speaker of the TNLA.

She will become the first woman to chair the country’s national assembly.

“It will not be business as usual. The current political dispensation demands commitment from all of us, it calls for unity of purpose,” Kumba said shortly after she was nominated on Friday.

Born in 1966, Kumba has held various positions in Kiir’s government, including governor of Western Equatoria state between 2008-2010. She also held several ministerial portfolios.

(ST)