The speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) has expressed displeasure over the continuous failure of ministers to appear before the House when summoned.
Last month, parliament summoned the ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Defense and Veteran Affairs, Interior, and National Security.
The other officials who were summoned included the governors of Central Equatoria state, Jonglei, Unity, Warrap, and the GPAA chief administrator, Emmanuel Adil Anthony, Denay Chagor, Manhiem Bol Malek, and Lokole Amee respectively.
The officials were summoned to answer queries concerning the escalating insecurity along the South Sudan-Uganda border, the killing of two women by armed criminals in Gogorial East, and the assassination of 8 traders in Tonj County in Warrap State.
Other issues the ministers were supposed to respond to were the escalation of child abductions, brutal killing of traders, and bloody cattle raids in Nyirol County in Jonglei state.
However, on Tuesday out of the ministers and governors summoned, only Interior Minister Angelina Teny, GPAA Chief Administrator Lokole Amee, and Jonglei State Governor Denay Chagor showed up.
The officials who failed to appear before parliament include the ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Security, and the governors of Unity and Warrap states respectively.
Addressing members of the TNLA on Tuesday, Kumba called on the minister of parliamentarian affairs, Mary Nawai, to ensure that whenever ministers are summoned to parliament, they must appear.
“Honorable minister of parliamentarian affairs, we need to remind you that you should remind the ministers that when they are called to come to parliament, they should appear,” she stressed. “We are not joking here. We are talking about the lives of people and there must be a serious reason why they (ministers and governors) are not here. We need explanations.”
Speaker Kumba later deferred two of the urgent motions due to the absence of the officials.