By Bida Elly David
The speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) Jemma Nunu Kumba is facing another new wave of critique as she was again accused by opposition lawmaker of duty encroachment and discrimination in selecting lawmakers for international summits.
Chairperson of the specialized committee for foreign affairs at the R-TNLA, Joseph Malual slammed speaker Nunu for encroachment on matters that were supposed to be handled by his committee as far as selection of members for global summits is concerned.
Speaking during the sitting yesterday, MP Malual who hails from Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) said his role to nominate lawmakers from various parties for international summits has been infringed by the speaker.
He described Nunu as unjust and bias rather than being democratic in decision making noting that the political future of the parliament will be ruin if her parliamentary leadership favors few individuals.
“Rt. Hon. Speaker, there has been marginalization from your office since the beginning up to now. You have been setting up committees also going abroad on some of the missions which are supposed to be part of my own delegation or part of my participation but you have marginalized me in person or the committee in particular,” he complained.
“Is it because I will overlook you when we are in a mission together,” Malual questioned.
The opposition lawmaker went further to groan that the underestimation he faces is due to the fact that the membership in his committee is dominated by the SPLM saying “they are three from SPLM-IO”.
“I am accusing you as the chair of this house since it a place where we discuss matters of this nation and note that there is nothing secret about what I am saying and nothing to be talked about privately,” he bluntly said.
In rebuttal however, Speaker Nunu also hit back at the opposition lawmaker over the accusation terming him to be ignorant of his role as the chairperson for the committee of foreign affairs within the parliament.
“There are specific roles for the chairperson of committee for foreign affairs. There is no provision that you (have) the power to nominate whoever is travelling to attend any meeting outside the Country. You are supposed to provide oversight and look at foreign policies of this Country and coordinate the activities of the Country with the ministry of foreign affairs like other committees,” Nunu interjected.
She noted that the delegates partaking with her on foreign trips are permanent members from different political parties.
“I am not here to discriminate any of you. If anybody claims that there is discrimination that is out of place since I am for everybody. On these issues of parliamentary bodies, I have a list of people who have been assigned to each of the international bodies. We have the Pan-African parliament and we have five permanent members,” she cited.
The speaker also stated that nomination of parliamentary members for global summits have been done accordingly through consultation with political party heads for fairness.
“It is not me who chose these people by myself. The members who have been assigned here are permanent members assigned to the committees in the document. They must be there consistently to follow up on the meetings. You cannot have one today and send another tomorrow. You will not be able to follow what was discussed,” Nunu defended her leadership.
“If the complaint was on why I travel with the same people, yes I am travelling with them because these are the people assigned for IPU meetings and any time there will be the same meeting and the same people will be attending the same for Pan-African parliament who are five in number.”
Meanwhile the point raised by the lawmaker drew the attention of some MPs from other parties who stood in support of his concern reacting that the speaker also has been using 2/3 of the parliamentary money on trip halting to resolve their medical allowances.
However, speaker Nunu also in response denied the allegations of budget mismanagement using much of the budget on travels saying that the money for trips has been from a different source meant to execute such missions.