The speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), Jemma Nunu Kumba, has threatened to drag a Sudan people’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) parliamentarian to court over an embezzlement allegation.
John Agany Deng, the chairperson of the specialized committee on Information at the TNLA, told a press conference at the parliament in Juba on Friday that Juol Nhomngek Daniel who earlier in the week accused the speaker of trying to misappropriate SSP 12 million to prepare to defend himself in court.
“So the Honorable Juol Nhomngek has to bring the allegations forward so that they are substantiated otherwise he will be going to attend a court hearing about this allegation which he has leveled against Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba,” Agany said.
Earlier this week, Nhomngek claimed that he had been slapped by security officers when he tried to prevent the speaker from smuggling SSP 12 million out of parliament.
In the speaker’s defense, Agany claimed that the money in question was meant for air tickets for South Sudanese lawmakers in the regional East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA).
“There was an allegation that was leveled against the speaker on 25 February regarding SSP 12,495,000 which was allocated administratively to facilitate the EALA members,” he said. “As you know, our members of EALA are paid by EALA but this does not stop us from supporting them when they come for recess. The SSP 12 million that was alleged to be stolen by the speaker was the money used administratively to support and give those (EALA members) air tickets.”
Agany said this is not the first time Nhomngek has accused the speaker.
“Hon. Juol Ngomngek and his associate must be well reminded that any allegation they pass against anyone in this house, including the speaker, will be attended to in a court of law and the speaker has a right to defend herself before any court of law,” he said. “This is not the first time he has made such allegations. In the last three to six months, he has been making all those allegations, and an ad hoc committee was formed to investigate him and he was found guilty of leveling false accusations against the speaker who forgave him as a mother. I think he is taking a chance by thinking that he will be forgiven again.”
“Again, he has been under investigation by another committee for the last three weeks and is yet to answer,” he added.