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South Sudan’s Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba, has summoned all Members of Parliament and government ministers to an emergency sitting, as political pressure intensifies over moves to remove her from office.<\/p>\n
The extraordinary session, scheduled for April 8, comes just days after the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) voted to withdraw confidence in her leadership and formally recommended her removal to President Salva Kiir.<\/p>\n
Parliamentary spokesperson Oliver Mori Benjamin confirmed the summons, describing the sitting as unprecedented and instructing all legislators and ministers to attend without fail.<\/p>\n
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“We are in the operations room in Parliament, although it is a holiday. All Members of Parliament and ministers are required to attend this sitting without fail. The agenda will be communicated, but as you are aware, there have been political developments,” Benjamin said.<\/p>\n
\n The “political developments” refer to a rapidly escalating internal dispute within the SPLM, where a caucus meeting chaired by President Kiir on March 31 resulted in a unanimous vote of no confidence against Kumba.<\/p>\n Lawmakers subsequently recommended her immediate removal, with the decision forwarded to Kiir, who also serves as party chairman and holds decisive influence over the final outcome<\/p>\n Multiple reports indicate that the move could trigger a leadership change in Parliament within days, with potential replacements already being discussed within party structures.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A statement from the Speaker’s office, however, pushed back against the process, arguing that she was not given an opportunity to respond to the allegations during the caucus meeting and that no formal debate or vote was conducted in accordance with parliamentary procedures.<\/p>\n “The Office of the Speaker has taken note of the concerns raised and stands ready to address these matters through appropriate institutional processes,” the statement said.<\/p>\n The emergency sitting now places Kumba in the unusual position of presiding over — or at least convening — a Parliament that could determine her own political fate.<\/p>\n At the centre of the dispute are a series of financial misconduct allegations contained in a petition by a section of SPLM lawmakers.<\/p>\n The claims include $2 million linked to regional parliamentary games, $285,000 for a generator, 7.2 billion South Sudanese pounds (about Shs15 billion), and 1.7 billion South Sudanese pounds (about Shs3.5 billion) in operational expenditures.<\/p>\n
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