Kiir replaces Nunu Kumba as minister of parliamentary affairs  

JUBA – South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit has issued a Republic Decree replacing the minister of parliamentary affairs Jemma Nunu Kumba who is also the acting SPLM Secretary-General Jemma days before she is sworn in as the first female speaker of the South Sudan’s parliament.

In a separate decree, President Kiir appointed Mary Nawai Martin as the new minister of parliamentary affairs.

The latest development, which was expected, comes days after an emergency meeting of members of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) faction chaired by Kiir ended with the nomination of Jemma Kumba as the next speaker of the South Sudan peace parliament.

This comes more than two months after Kiir reconstituted the transitional national legislative assembly appointing more than 500 politicians representing various factions to the country’s revitalized peace agreement as lawmakers.

According to the revitalized peace agreement, Kiir’s party, the largest among the other four signatories of the 2018 peace deal, shall nominate the speaker of the transitional parliament that has at least three deputies.

The main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has nominated the former SPLM-IO governor of Imatong state Nathaniel Pierino as the parliament speaker’s first deputy.