Lawmakers in Jonglei State Legislative Assembly on Thursday broke off for a 3-month recess period.
The assembly’s speaker, Amer Ateny Alier, told Radio Tamazuj Thursday that the recess will allow the Members of Parliament to assess the situation in their constituencies.
“The recess could have been on May 10, but it was delayed to this date. The reason was that there were a lot of issues in the state which required our presence, and again, we did not receive salaries for July and August because we rejected them over the issue of a 50 per cent cut,” she said.
Amer added, “But today (Thursday), the assembly is closed until January 6, 2023, after receiving money for recess from the finance ministry, and the issue of our salaries will be discussed by my leadership and the governor.”
Meanwhile, Wany Bum, the spokesperson of the state assembly, applauded the executive for officiating the recess.
“The Assembly was closed by consensus. MPs were sent home for three months. We agreed because we overstayed in parliament due to some challenges, but our government responded by ensuring that 250,000 SSP required for a ticket for each MP is paid,” he said. “The parliament was closed by the speaker, but chief whips and the ABC led by the speaker is not part of the recess as required by the law.”