A member of parliament representing Jonglei State in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) has decried the lack of action by the relevant ministries in addressing the insecurity plaguing Nyirol County.
Nyayang Johnson Lokirk, a parliamentarian from Jonglei on the SPLM ticket said women and children were being killed and when the cases are reported to parliament, no action is taken.
“It is still a shame to us the representatives of the people that our people are dying on a daily basis,” she lamented.
“We bring the information to the house and yet the concerned ministries are not here to come and clarify exactly what they are doing.”
Lokirk revealed that the latest incident occurred last Friday when suspected armed Murle raiders from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) abducted seven children and wounded some women in Mabil Village in Watt Payam of Nyirol County.
She said such incidents had been reported to parliament and a committee to was formed to investigate them but has not reported back.
“If the committee that was formed under the leadership of the parliament is not coming to report to us as the leadership, you can call the ministers and the question can be posed by the MPs directly because our people are blaming us that we are not bringing their concerns to the house,” Lokirfk said. “Already, some motions have been tabled and the concerned ministers are not coming.”
Relatedly, a Member of Parliament representing Cueibet County in Lakes State on the SPLM-IO ticket, Juol Nomngeek, called on parliament to summon parliamentarian Salva Mathok Gengdit for burning a Seventh-day Adventist church in Gogrial County in Warrap State.
About a week ago, Salva Mathok admitted that he burned down the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Gogrial East County, Warrap State, saying he took he did it because the church was a center for prostitution.
Nomngeek described Mathok’s action as “shocking” as the latter was supposed to safeguard the constitution.
“It was shocking when we saw an honorable member of parliament in this house burning the whole church without following the right procedure to regulate the church instead of destroying them, he said. “Article 8 of our constitution provides clearly that all the people of South Sudan have equal rights to religion and the same right is echoed under article 23 of our constitution.”
Nomngeek called on the leadership of the parliament to take steps to question Salva Mathok over the matter.
“It is my firm belief that the Honorable Mathok breached his mandate as an MP and he should be summoned for questioning by this house to provide answers and explain why is he destroying a church which we have agreed in the constitution should be protected,” he said.