Juba, South Sudan
Aug 2, 2021 — The long awaited swearing in ceremony of 550 members of parliament to the lower house and 100 council of state, the upper house, has kicked off at the Freedom, Juba, South Sudan.
The ceremony, which has been postponed several times for reasons best known to president Salva Kiir, is being conducted in accordance to the Revitalized Agreement of the Resolution of the conflict in South Sudan, a peace agreement that was to be implemented by this coming September 12, 2021.
The swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed members of Parliament was last postponed on July 29 to allow celebration of the Martyrs day on July 30th.
“In honor of commemoration of Martyrs Day, which falls on Friday 30th July 2021, The Ministry of Presidential Affairs hereby announces that the swearing in of the Honourable Members of Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly, which was scheduled for Friday, 30th July 2021, at Freedom Hall at 11:00 am is hereby rescheduled for Monday, 2nd August 2021,” Marial Benjamin said in a statement extended to Nyamilepedia.
According to the office of Clerk, Makuc Makuc Ngong, the newly appointed members of the national Parliament were supposed to take oath of office on July 30th but the decision was revoked because it coincided with Martyrs day leaving doubts on who initially proposed the date.
According to the peace agreement, the Revitalized Transitional National Legislature Assembly(RTNLA) shall be expanded from 400 to 550 members: 332 from the SPLM, 128 from SPLA-IO, 50 from Other Political Parties and 10 from the Former Detainees.
The Council of States has been expanded from 50 to 100 members representative of all the parties to the agreement.
Prior to today’s swearing in ceremony, president Kiir revoked appointment of some MP that include the controversial leader of the Other Opposition Parties, Hon Peter Mayen Majongdit.
South Sudan has a population of less than 12 million people with over four million people displaced to refugees camps and IDPs concentration centers.
With over 1000 mps at the state levels and 650 mps in both houses at the national level, South Sudan’s ratio of a mp per population could be the highest in the world, which could mean that the citizens will be well represented; however, whether or not the large parliament will deliver remains to be seen.
