The leadership of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Wednesday announced that the House was breaking off for four months amidst a lack of funds to pay legislators’ allowances due to the economic hardships the country is grappling with.
Parliamentarians did not receive allowances for the first and second breaks earlier in the year.
Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba who announced the break after securing approval from President Salva Kiir said the decision to go on recess followed consecutive sessions during which all bills relevant to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement were successfully passed.
“I am aware that there are concerns about the recess funds that were supposed to be given to members of parliament for the first and second recess and also this recess,” she explained. “This is a requirement by law, but due to the difficult economic situation we have, these funds were not provided for the members of the house.”
The speaker highlighted her administration’s commitment to addressing the issue and clarified that all the recess funds have been calculated and documents submitted to the finance ministry.
“I want to inform you that the administration did not hesitate to address this issue with the relevant ministry. Since the first recess, the administration prepared and calculated all the recess [funds] needed to be provided to the members of parliament,” Speaker Kumba said. “The first recess was processed, and the funds were processed and submitted to the finance ministry accordingly, the documents are here. The second one was equally prepared and submitted to the Ministry of Finance. Also, the government is here, the medical fund for the MPs was calculated and submitted to the finance ministry.”
“This year, 2024, the TNLA was not able to participate in the East African Community Inter-Parliamentary Games because of financial difficulties,” she added.
According to Kumba, the House worked hard to pass many urgent and relevant bills and will handle what is left when they reconvene.
“I also want to highlight some of the outstanding bills that are yet to be tabled once we come back from recess and most of these bills are already with the committees. We have the Wildlife Conservation Protection Area Bill, National Audit Chamber Act, Amendment Bill, Cyber-crime and Computer Misuse Bill, Non-governmental Organization Act 2016, Amendment Bill, East Africa Community Treaty Bill 2024, and the National Examination Council Act 2011, Amendment Bill,” she stated.
The other pending policy documents that the House has to pass are the Sports Development Policy 2020/30, the National Land Policy 2020/24, and the National Youth Development Policy.
The TNLA is expected to officially reopen on 1 April 2025.