The reopening of the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly which was scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed due to a lack of finances, the parliament’s spokesperson said.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Wany Bum, said lawmakers will remain home until the money needed for the reopening of the house is secured.
“The state assembly was not reopened on Tuesday partly because the budget that was requested for the reopening was not availed by the state finance ministry,” he said. “The reopening will be a colorful event and a lot of dignitaries will be invited so the budget is needed. The money requested is about SSP 5 Million.”
Bum said the date for the reopening of the assembly will be communicated as soon as money is availed.
However, Abel Nyuot Lok, the SPLM-IO chief whip, said any attempt to have the assembly reopened before former Speaker Amer Ateny is reinstated would be illegal and that they would boycott it.
“If the assembly was not reopened yesterday (Tuesday) because of the lack of money, that is their case. For our case, we will not be part of that reopening because the speaker was removed unilaterally,” Nyuot said. “The Conduct of Business of the Assembly, Article 7.3 Chapter 1 says no parliament business shall be transacted when the office of the speaker is vacant because there is no active speaker or delegated powers to the deputy speaker.”
On his part, Ter Manyang, the executive director of the civil society outfit, Center for Peace and Advocacy (CPA), said delays in the reopening of the state legislature is a tactic by the executive to keep the assembly paralyzed as an oversight body.
“The state has money so I think the budget is not an issue,” he said. “The removal of the speaker was nonprocedural so the presidency should have a meeting on the issue because the assembly should be operating normally as citizens expect.”
Source: Radio Tamazuj