279 South Sudan Legislatures Sworn In The Republic of South Sudan yesterday witnessed her first legislators sworn in, following proclamation of her independence last month. 279 Members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) took oath of office including the Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teny.07 August 2011 Hon. MPs seated at the National Assembly hall during swearing in secession [©Gurtong] By Waakhe Simon Wudu JUBA, 7th August 7, 2011 [Gurtong] – The Republic of South Sudan yesterday witnessed her first legislators sworn in, following proclamation of her independence last month. 279 Members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) took oath of office including the Vice President Dr Riek Machar Teny.
The South Sudan national parliament has 332 MPs this time, a greater number compared to the previous assembly, the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, (SSLA) which had 170 members. However, some of the Members were absent for the swearing ceremony consisting of some former Presidential Advisors who were appointed by the President, others from Khartoum and others in the last SSLA. The historical event was also followed by election of the Second Deputy Speaker of the House Hon. Fatma Nyawang who becomes the first female Deputy Speaker to be elected at the national assembly of South Sudan after Independence. Nyawang becomes the second Deputy to Hon. Wani Igga after Hon. Joseph Wol was on Friday sworn in as the first Deputy Speaker and also the Speaker of the State Council parliament. Hon. Speaker Wani Igga expressed his commitment, and also called for the cooperation and commitment from the members in tackling issues in the House for building the new State of Republic of South Sudan. “I will listen to all MPs regardless of their background and I’m devoted to all…I am calling for cooperation among us in this esteemed August House,” Wani expressed. He also assured the parliamentarians that, the August House will have room for all other political parties’ representatives. “We will recognize the presence of all other parties as President Kiir said yesterday and this is an asset,” Wani said. Following the reading of the Presidential Decree by the House Speaker, confirming the appointment of the Vice President Dr Riek Machar, Wani assured the House commitment in working closely with the Vice President. “This house is ready to cooperate with you in carrying out the responsibilities of building this nation,” Hon. Wani assured the vice president. 96 former South Sudanese MPs representing the then semi autonomous region in Khartoum National Assembly joined the 170 Members of the old SSLA in addition to the recent appointed 66 Members by the President. South Sudan has two working parliaments as of now; South Sudan National Assembly, (SSNA) and the State Council sub-parliament, bringing the number of Honourable members to 382. The Opposition has criticized the structure of the current parliament, saying that, it is a burden than blessings to the building of the new State. “But he-(President Kiir) made the parliament a huge one, taking people from executive to legislative. How can you mix democratically elected people and undemocratically elected ones?” Hon Onyoti Adigo, leader of the Opposition in the assembly questioned. “The money which would have been used for public service delivery will go to these constitutional post holders. If you take 332 MPs multiply with a minimum of 7,000 Sudanese Pounds-(assumed salary of an MP) per person and multiply on how much money is this per month? Per year? Leave alone cars to be used,” Onyoti wondered. “This is why we in the opposition are propagating for a lean government in the sense that both legislative and executive are few in number so that we save the money for delivery of service to the people.” He stressed. Following the proclamation of the Republic of South Sudan, President Kiir said he will announce a lean government this time, meaning reduction in the more than thirty Ministries he has in his government. The National Assembly is set to commence next week with the President in attendance, Wani said. Posted in: Home, Foreign Relations -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
