Parliament in Jonglei State has resumed sittings today after a long break that started in October 2022, with lawmakers promising to prioritize service delivery.
Jonglei State MPs began a three-month recess in early October 2022, but the house had since failed to reopen after the opposition SPLM-IO caucus threatened to boycott sittings over the firing of the assembly speaker Amer Alier Ateny, a leading member of SPLM-IO led by First Vice President Riek Machar.
Ateny was fired by President Salva Kiir without clear reasons in January before being reinstated in early April.
The constitution gives the legislative assembly powers to exercise legislative functions, oversee the executive, and authorize the allocation of resources and revenue.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj after today’s sitting, the acting assembly’s spokesperson Grace Mathoth said: “As the assembly now reopened, we will work with our people for the service delivery.”
She added, “Of course, we had a recess last October which was supposed to run for three months, but it continued because of the issue of our speaker, who was dismissed without the consent of her party. Thank God, all the issues have been resolved, and we are here to deliver.”
Lawmaker James Yien Jal called for cooperation.
“My message to the people of Jonglei, there is a need to cooperate. When we have a crisis, it cannot take us anywhere. My people are suffering; they need services from the government. It is the right time to develop our people and the country,” he said.
Another lawmaker, David Deng Wuol, who serves as the assembly’s deputy head of the committee on security and local government, said they would cooperate with the executive and the legislature to deliver services.
“We shall continue working hand in hand and cooperate with the other arms of the government to handle insecurity in the state. On 20 of this month, we lost at least 15 people in a single day. So this issue of insecurity needs to be handled,” Wuol said.