Africa-Press – South-Sudan. An activist is calling on the presidency to appoint the third deputy speaker under the Other Political Party (OPP) ticket for South Sudan to have a fully-fledged Revitalised Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA).
The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, said preconditioning such appointment by another party was unacceptable as it undermines the spirit of peace agreement implementation.
“With due respect and honour, members of the presidency should appoint the OPP nominated candidate for the seat of third deputy in the Revitalised Transitional National Legislative Assembly,” said Yakani.
“This practice of one party signatory to the R-ARCSS denying the nomination of another counterpart signatory to the R-ARCSS is absolute undermining of the spirit of R-ARCSS and clear demonstration of lack of political will to implement the R-ARCSS per its spirit,” he added.
Chapter 1.14.3 of the R-ARCSS provides that the Speaker of the TNLA shall be nominated by the incumbent TGoNU. One deputy peaker shall be nominated by SPLM/A-IO; another, who shall be a woman, shall be nominated by the incumbent TGoNU; and a third deputy speaker shall be nominated by OPP.
President Salva Kiir reconstituted the R-TNLA, Africa’s ever biggest parliament, in May 202. He later named the speaker, first, and second deputy speakers per the agreement, but the third deputy from the ticket of OPP missed out on the list.
It was not clear what had transpired, but according to Yakani’s statement issued on Friday, the OPP had submitted the name of their nominee pending action at the level of presidency.
“The Other Political Parties (OPP) have said President Salva Kiir’s office is the one delaying the appointment of the third deputy speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) as they forwarded the name of their nominee since last year and today there is no appointment,” said Yakani.
The City Review could not reach the OPP leadership for comment. However, the party has been characterised by disagreement among members since the start of reconstitution of parliament, which resulted to the cancellation and reappointment of its members to the TNLA.
Recently, Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumbo blamed the OPP and South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) for delaying the formation of the specialised technical committee announced last week without their representatives due to a lack of agreement among the members.
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