The spokesperson of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), who also doubles as the chairperson of the house’s information committee, on Wednesday told opposition lawmakers to desist from and abandon their plot to impeach Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba.
John Agany Deng disparagingly referred to the mostly youthful parliamentarians as ignorant.
On Tuesday, a group of opposition lawmakers who call themselves the ‘Young Parliamentary Caucus’ threatened to impeach Speaker Kumba for what they called an unwarranted trip to India while ordinary South Sudanese suffer and wallow in poverty.
Speaking to reporters after a parliamentary sitting on Wednesday, Agany said the opposition lawmakers do not have the right to impeach the speaker.
“Let me remind those ignorant MPs, let me use that language because they are really ignorant about the law and they should know that in some parts of the world, South Sudan does not exist and it is we to sell the good image of the country and to go to them and tell them South Sudan exists and we are here,” he charged. “If they have substantial material, let them put in writing and present it in the house as a motion, and then it will be handled.”
Agany vehemently defended the speaker and said she does not use legislators’ money for regional and international travel.
“By the way, the speaker cannot use any money belonging to MPs for traveling and there are records and budgeting activities that are done administratively for the speaker to go around,” he said.
The parliamentary mouthpiece dared the opposition lawmakers and said only the SPLM party which nominated Kumba as a speaker and has majority seats in the national assembly can remove her.
“In this house, the members representing SPLM are 303 and Nunu Kumba is a member of this group. That nonsense (impeachment) can never be executed without us the members of the SPLM to approve it. Please regard it as nonsense and do not go talking about it,” Agany said. “Let them put it in writing and we will deliberate here. SPLM-IO has 128 seats. Can 128, even if they all agreed, impeach the speaker? SSOA which I think has 50 people do not have any problem with us (SPLM).”
For his part, Juol Nhomngek Daniel, an SPLM-IO lawmaker representing Cueibet County in Lakes State confirmed that there was indeed a move to impeach the speaker.
“Yes, there was a move but it has not yet been finalized and some people leaked the information. The next is collecting the necessary 350 signatures which are needed which were done from the beginning because it has been going on like that,” he revealed. “It will happen although the time will not be specific. These are issues of politics and sometimes when you make it open, it can easily be killed.”
According to the peace agreement, the speaker can only be removed by the party that appointed her. However, the conduct of business regulations of parliament gives legislators the power to impeach the speaker.