South Sudan, Juba
July 28, 2021 —The former State governor of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition ( SPLM_IO) has been appointed as Deputy Speaker of the Parliament.
Oyet Nathaniel, a senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO), has been appointed as the first deputy speaker of the Parliament.
The parliament was dissolved and then reconstituted in May with 550 legislators instead of the previous 400 where 332 lawmakers were selected by President Salva Kiir, 128 by SPLM-IO leader Riek Machar, and 90 others by other signatories to the agreement.
According to the information received by Nyamilepedia, the SPLM-IO representative to the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC) “was chosen to become the first deputy speaker” of the newly reconstituted assembly.
Oyet is a former head of the Political Science Department at the University of Juba. He joined the SPLM-IO in 2014 in the wake of the civil war that was apparently fought along ethnic lines where he was appointed as governor of Imatong State in the defunct 21 states of SPLM_IO .
He became a leading figure in the movement and eventually took part in peace negotiations between the opposition and the South Sudan government.
According to Puok Both Baluang, Acting Secretary at the office of the First Vice President, the SPLM-IO party has selected Deng Deng Akon to be a speaker of the Council of States, the upper house of the parliament.
Deng Deng was holding the position of deputy minister of cabinet affairs until he was relieved by President Salva Kiir on Monday evening. He was appointed to the executive last year on the SPLM ticket.
Baluang said the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of the various parliamentary committees allocated to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) had been appointed in accordance with the power-sharing agreement.
“The nominations have already been endorsed by the SPLM-IO Political Bureau. The party also named Farouk Gatkuoth Kam as the SPLM-IO chief whip,” he said.
