Keji Janefer
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The national deputy minister of information has absolved the government from the accusation that it neglected the plight of the deceased lawmakers, adding that their deaths were “natural.’
Addressing a media briefing after the Council of Ministers meeting on Friday, Dr. Jacob Maiju Korok, stated that the number of MPs who died in service could not be compared to those who died outside, arguing that they were also subjected to diseases and other life-threatening factors.
“So you cannot say the MPs are losing their lives; it is like being segregated in a certain planet, but they are still human beings facing the same problems and facing the same diseases [which] you cannot isolate from the citizens,” he argued.
He added, “If you go to Juba Teaching Hospital, the fatality rate is so high, and it applies to everybody in the country because we are lacking in a lot of areas.”
“We have floods, we have a lot of diseases…so it affects everyone, including the legislators. Non-parliamentarians are the same.”
Korok said the lawmakers’ medical allowances were recently received and that their welfare was adequately discussed without warranting further discussion.
“They were given the money for welfare, so you cannot discuss that,” he said. “They will be given the medication fund.”
Blame game
On November 1, Alier Samuel Ateny, the deputy chairperson of the parliamentary committee on members’ affairs, ethics, and integrity, told City Review that at least four or five MPs lose their lives in a month, noting that it affects the activities of the legislative arm of the government.
He stated that the MPs only received less than SSP 600,000 of the SSP 800,000 they approved for their emoluments earlier this year, attributing their deaths to financial distress. Since the South Sudanese country’s independence, the MPs have been receiving around SSP 9,400 .
During the discussion of the fiscal year budget for 2022–2033, the politician made a claim that more than 50 MPs tragically passed away between 2021 and 2022.
Sequential deaths
Last week, the National Police Service Bill debate was frequently postponed while MPs grieved for their lost colleagues. Unlucky events occurred during the police bill’s consideration and up until the parliamentarians’ passage of the bill on Monday.
The assembly leadership decided to continue with the sitting even though another MP was killed in the line of duty while on a peace mission in the Abyei Administrative Area. The lawmaker had gone to look into the conflict that has played out in the past few months between the Twic community in Warrap State and the Ngok community in Abyei.
According to Ateny, apart from the recent $15,000 paid as the balance of the prior year’s medical arrears, there has not been a special package for MPs. He asserted that the parliament is held in abeyance by the executive branch, particularly the ministry of finance, and that it is frequently kept waiting.
The Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba, mentioned that she has been losing members while attending the viewing of the body of one of the MPs who also happened to be a close relative of the Speaker and who passed away on October 29.
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