Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The national ministers are expected to attend and answer questions in parliament on Friday.
This came after the Speaker, Jemma Nunu Kumba, requested the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs to direct all ministers to attend parliament sessions to answer questions on pressing issues.
The Assembly, according to Nunu, did not execute Regulation 41 of the House’s conduct of business, which allows MPs to question ministers within the first hour of Assembly proceedings.
“You [MPs] have a right to question the ministers,’ Nunu said.
The line ministries expected to have a tough time in the House are those of finance, which the City Review understands will be tasked with explaining the perennial salary delay for civil servants; and roads.
Nunu said the session allows the ministers to answer questions from the MPs instead of her answering on their behalf.
The speaker noted that though the conduct of business rule says the questioning hour is 3 hours, they will first begin with 1 hour and later progress to 2 or 3 hours depending on the concerns of the MPs.
“We can start with one hour, and if there are many questions, [then] we can go to two or three hours so that you hear the answers from the mouths (lips) of those ministers. I should not be answering questions on behalf of the ministers.
“We are going to introduce this going forward.”
“The minister of parliamentary affairs is going to inform all the ministers that they should be attending sittings for at least one hour,” Nunu said.
“We are just starting. We are trying to build ourselves, and we are subject to correction if there are things that we need to adjust.”
This is the second time the parliament has urged national ministers to attend legislative sessions.
In 2021, the minister of parliamentary affairs, Mary Nawai, made a similar request to national ministers to attend parliamentary sittings.
In response, Minister of Information Michael Makuei stated that the cabinet had agreed that ministers must attend parliamentary sittings on days when they do not have cluster meetings.
However, Makuei stated that cluster meetings for the executive branch of government are also held on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, making it difficult for ministers to attend all parliamentary sittings.
“The ministers are supposed to attend the national assembly meetings or sittings on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays,” said Makuei.
The absence of the cabinet ministers, however, caused a parliamentary session to be postponed until October 2021. The ministers were expected to participate in a discussion about the speech delivered by President Salva Kiir on August 30, 2021, during the inauguration of the parliament.
In his inauguration speech, President Kiir promised to push the country forward by improving security, justice, the economy, and service delivery, as well as implementing the revitalized peace agreement, to accomplish the country’s essential growth.
He directed the lawmakers to use their oversight authority to fight for the swift implementation of the peace deal and to scrutinize all government initiatives in order to meet the demands of the constituents they serve.
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