By Ephraim Modi Duku Sokiri
The Speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) Rt. Hon. Jemma Nunu Kumba said she has been entrusted by President Salva Kiir and other SPLM leaders as right-hand person to handle the affairs of the RTNLA on behalf of the ruling party.
Speaker Nunu made her sentiment yesterday during the reopening of the parliament after the MPs returned from a three months’ long recess.
“Our President and the rest of SPLM leadership, with lots of support in the women constituency, entrusted me the task to lead this Transitional Parliament on behalf of the party,” she said.
“I am always cognizant of this; hence, I am very grateful for their trust in me. Therefore, I am not just about to let the President down, nor the party or the women constituency for that matter, and falter into petty corrupt deals and negligence of duty,” she continued.
Nunu also reiterated her consciousness about her position as the Speaker for the august house that she believes some people are against.
“I am aware that, for some political expediency, some male chauvinists are uncomfortable with the decision of our president to promote women leadership and for a woman to be in senior post like speaker of the TNLA. Such individuals still don’t accept that women too must have their space in this country,” she echoed.
Despite the political differences, the parliament speaker said that the country belongs to everyone and everyone has a role to play in putting things right for this country.
Nunu Kumba has been a prominent member of the ruling SPLM party for many years and after independence in 2011, she had served several official posts, including being a governor of the Western Equatoria State in the country’s southwest after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
In 2013, two years after independence, the country lurched into a civil war that eroded President Kiir and his rival Dr. Riek Machar.
As part of the 2018 peace deal, the parliament was dissolved and then reconstituted two years later, with 550 lawmakers instead of the previous 400. Whereas 332 MPs were from the SPLM, 128 from SPLM-IO, and 90 from other signatories to the agreement.