By Victor Dodo
It was on 11th November 2023, when National Legislative Assembly Speaker Rt. Hon. Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba received an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from Weldios University- Benin for her Excellence in Public Service and Charitable Work.
The Honorary PhD was conferred on the distinguished and highly revered speaker at a grand convocation ceremony in Benin.
Her recognition followed a nomination by the institution after a keen evaluation of her contribution in the Republic of South Sudan and humanity in general.
Dr.Jemma Nunu Kumba was among hundreds of prominent world leaders who received the highly prized doctorate degree who from the convocation day, henceforth use the title of ‘Doctor’ that the degree conferred.
To clarify, Honorary doctorate degree can be awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions to society, such as public figures, artists, or philanthropists, it is a way for universities to recognize and honour the achievements of individuals who have created an impact in the society.
For Rt. Hon. Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba to achieve this estimable honorary doctorate was not an easy feat as others may comprehend, it took a significant amount of her dedication, hard work, perseverance, and consistence.
As a holder of the prestigious Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public service and charitable work, Dr. Jemma Nunu is enfranchised by law to receive more than one Honory decree but not from the same school twice.
Note that, An Honorary doctorate degree candidate does not necessarily have to be an alumnus of the awarding school, though many schools prefer to recognize their own graduates or individuals who have contributed to the school.
Since her graduation to date, overwhelming congratulations have continued to pour in from all walks of life within and across the globe celebrating her for this valued life time accomplishments.
As tradition demands, every accomplishments of any sort including academics is worth celebrating in many ways including congratulatory messages from family members, friends, workmates, and well-wishers.
This is done for a number of reasons , one to recognize and acknowledge the hard work and dedication that has gone into achieving the goal to serve as motivation for future endeavors, both for the person who has graduated and for others who see the celebration.
Additionally, graduation ceremonies and celebrations can serve as a way to bring people together and create a sense of community, which can be especially important for students who may have spent a significant amount of time studying alone.
Graduation ceremonies and celebrations can serve as a way to mark the transition from one stage of life to the next, which can be a significant and meaningful event for many people.
Shockingly, this accomplishment has not gone well with a coterie of cad individuals including the disgruntled and addled SPLM-IO Member of Parliament, Juol Nhomngek Daniel who has taken it personal to attack and obliterate the notable and impressive accomplishment of Rt. Hon. Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba.
Dr. Jemma Nunu is a loyal, committed, hardworking and patriotic senior member of SPLM who dedicated her life to serve the party and the entire people of South Sudan.
She is a successful and patient comrade who had been in SPLM since 1991, the year she abandoned her studies and joined the people’s movement at kidepo valley in the Eastern Equatoria State.
Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba is a career politician with over thirty years of political experience in various fields at the national, regional, and continental levels and she had served in several positions during the liberation war, after the CPA and after the independence of South Sudan.
She is one of the patriots who had played a great role in the liberation struggle that later resulted into the birth of the Republic of South Sudan.
So given her rich background in the history of south sudan’s creation to date, Weldios University in Benin thought it wise to recognize her contribution with an Honorary doctorate degree for her meritorious performance in the public sector .
However, MP Juol Nhomngek argued that the doctorate degree was wrongfully awarded because the National Legislative Assembly under Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba failed to protect the rights of women and implement affirmative action.
Let me categorically inform you that it’s so indistinct and blurred to accuse the speaker of failure to protect women’s rights.
It’s obvious you are in Parliament to stir confusion and discredit her leadership instead of supporting her to deliver more tremendous services . Your impotent agenda to destroy the speaker’s reign at all costs is vanity.
In case you don’t know, earlier this year, Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba chaired a Parliamentary session which ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, known as the Maputo Protocol.
As one of the world’s most progressive and comprehensive Parliament, the ratification of the protocol aims to protect, promote, and affirm South Sudanese women’s human rights to exercise civil and political rights; economic, social, and cultural rights as well as collective and solidarity rights, thus reaffirming the universality, indivisibility, and interdependency of human rights for the Country’s women.
The leadership of Speaker Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba availed funds for the successful construction of a new fully fledged office block for the women
Parliamentary caucus, Secondly Vast majority of chairpersons of the parliamentary specialized standing committees are women and so on and so forth which is a manifestation of her resolute support for the women of South Sudan.
Your flagrant fabrication to bring her good name to disrepute in the name of her failure to protect women’s rights is a cheap propaganda to serve your selfish interest.
Accountability and transparency are among governing principles of Rt. Hon. Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba in execution of her mandate. She has taken lead as head of the of the National Assembly in fighting all forms of corruption.
As a senior and seasoned politician, Rt.Hon. Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is well informed that corruption disenfranchises the poor, weakens public services, reduces investment, and holds back whole societies.
For a political protégé like Juol Nhomngek to accuse a highly venerated, industrious, and conscientious speaker of corruption and misappropriation of public funds and to further claim she will use her award to defend her position for allegedly failing parliament is the most spurious, laughable, and powerless argument, a frustrated and tormented MP of your caliber can ever put forth.
Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba doesn’t engage and entertain the bad behavior of swindling public funds neither does she condone misappropriation of development funds. Funds in the parliament coffers all goes towards the series of ongoing infrastructural development in the national assembly not even a penny is siphoned for the speaker’s private programs.
Your fallacy of generalization depicts how psychologically deranged you are, you don’t speak for the people of South Sudan, so it’s highly diabolical to claim the speaker’s honorary award is not in the interest of South Sudanese.
For your information, Majority of the leaders of this country including parliamentarians and ordinary citizens support and commend the Speaker’s parliamentary reform program in line with the Revitalized peace agreement.
It’s regrettable and perplexing that you and your cohorts are so a versed, bent, and determined to disapprove her widely praised work to make her look a dishonest politician in the public eye and her fellow party members.
Your smear campaign which is seemingly part of a bigger ploy intended to destroy not only Speaker Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba but to further weaken and annihilate the mighty mother SPLM support base is a futile expedition.
This bootless errand to blacken her name and her terrific services for this country is condemned in strongest possible.
The writings are clear on the wall that you are a vehicle being used to raze down the speaker’s enduring popularity in Parliament, but I can assure you that your efforts are as dead a flogging a dead horse. `
Your ineffectual war and malevolence against Dr. Nunu Kumba expounded in your outright public letter addressed to Weldios University Central Management Board in which you unabashedly and discourteously adjured the University leadership to revoke her PhD for failure to run the Parliament and hold the executive accountable for corruption shows your degree of ignorance and intolerance for the Speaker who has always condemned and spoken strongly against corruption.
She has set example of honesty and ethical behavior which has created a culture within the National Assembly that is intolerant of corruption.
Under the Speaker you accused of leadership failure, through her dedication and honesty, the National Assembly recently enacted the Anti-corruption Bill 2023.
This document once passed into law will empower officials at the anti-graft institution to enter any government institution to conduct investigations on officials suspected of looting public properties and funds, so your arrant and shameless averment about endemic corruption in the national legislative assembly before the watch of Speaker is a far-fetched lie to blemish her glorious name.
It’s very unfortunate and so disposed of you to take a swipe at the Speaker whose immense contributions to the birth of this Nation are beyond any measurement.
Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is among architects of our history who gave up everything in life to join the movement to clear the way for the present and future generations to live in a more equitable South Sudan. Something sordid-minded law maker Nhomngek has failed to be thankful for.
I expect you to be able to see like the rest, how tremendously Rt. Hon. Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is expertly running the National Parliament since her appointment over two years ago.
Unfortunately the fanatical legislator is out on a mission to water down the Parliamentary gains South Sudan as country has witnessed under proficient and development- centered Speaker Dr. Nunu Kumba.
The Parliament under industrious Jemma Nunu Kumba has witnessed more prodigious infrastructural development including the exquisite Parliamentary roundabout and gate, expansion work on the Parliamentary building which is near completion and the ongoing construction of an additional hall in the Western side of the Parliament which will serve as Assembly business hall when the two houses are sitting( National Assembly and council of states).
Under her towering stewardship, Parliament recently appropriated and passed the 2023/2024 fiscal year budget with 400% increment in salaries and wages for Civil Servants, the Army, and other Organized Forces. The list of her accomplishments is infinite.
Juol Nhomngek, should know that Speaker Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is not a greedy and avaricious politician as you postulated in your disastrous letter, she is a highly regarded public figure, a law maker and custodian of the law who cannot tarnish her image with wrong doing such as corruption.
Your negative propaganda driven by hate, emotions, and treacherous mind-set is as useless as the day you conceived the idea of the smear tactic.
Right-thinking law makers, politicians and the country’s entire population can attest to how stupendously Dr. Jemma Nunu which you have belittled and looked down on has transformed the National Legislative Assembly from once a tumble-down legislative house to an internationally hailed parliament.
With all that Rt.Hon. Dr. Nunu Kumba done for this country, her doctorate PhD degree is well deserved.
Therefore, I cease this opportunity to wholeheartedly congratulate the administration of Weldios University Benin for the bold decision to confer upon her a prestigious Honorary doctorate for excellence in public service and charitable work and there is nothing Nhomngek can do about it.
Instead of gashing envy, hatred and running mortal campaigns against the speaker, I would advise law maker Nhomngek to follow her footsteps so that at the end of the day if he is proved worthy and eligible, he can also be honoured.
Rt. Hon. Speaker Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba does not condone or encourage recording people who are not employees of the National Assembly on the payroll system.
As a professional presiding officer of the Parliament, she has championed significant combat to rid of ghost employees from pay sheets of the parliament in an effort to ensure accountability and transparency, so your accusation without substantiation of the speaker concealing ghost names is malicious and unjustified harming of her image.
The employees and support staff of the National Legislative Assembly starting with the security men manning the gate to the cleaners, office managers, messengers, security details of the Speaker, cooks and so on are a composition of all the sixty-four tribes of South Sudan, recruited in accordance with the Parliamentary Service Commission Act, 2014 amended , 2023.
Your claim of thriving nepotism in Parliament and that the speaker is directly involved in recruitment of employees of the National Assembly is a mere concoction to corrode her very good name.
It’s your SPLM-IO brief case Organisation which is riddled with nepotism and corruption throughout its leadership structures, so step accusing the innocent Speaker of this dangerous vice nepotism.
Democracy has played a vital role in the story of civilization, helping transform the world from power structures of monarchy, empire, and conquest into popular rule, self-determination, and peaceful co-existence.
Speaker Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is a democratic leader who always asks for input and considers feedback from any member of parliament before deciding.
The Parliament is not a one-man rule or an authoritarian system as you claimed where the one at the top assumes supremacy to dictate how things are run.
Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is always open to advise including from the independent Parliamentary Service Commission about services provided to members of Parliament and other critical matters of national interest. She ensures fairness towards the minority and persons with special needs and giving each member or delegate the right to voice an opinion.
Dr. Speaker Nunu Kumba supports the Parliamentary Service Commission where necessary to enable it effectively execute its mandate.
The narrative that Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba doesn’t respect democratic practices and has rendered this critical institution redundant is a false impression to cause damage to the speaker’s integrity.
There has never been a single day that the National Parliament run dry on basic supplies including water which is a basic human right, printing papers and cartridges.
All thirty-six Parliamentary Specialized Standing Committees are allocated substantial funds through a transparent and accountable process to enable them to do their job as expected .
Speaker Dr.Jemma Nunu Kumba has never ever misappropriated or diverted operating funds to cover costs of her foreign trips. One thing MP Nhomngek should know is, Costs of any official foreign trip by any government official are covered by the government.
Whenever the Speaker out of the country on official mission, she is there to represent the government, not for financial gains, sightseeing, or holiday, so you and your group must stop spoiling the name of the Speaker because you will gain nothing. Your unnecessary noise is vanity without gain.
Your assertion that the Speaker runs the parliament as a private entity is so vague and ill-defined, it’s so embarrassing to yourself writing in general terms, can you cite a single case scenario where the Rt.Hon. Speaker has acted in a manner that contravenes her code of conduct or running the National Legislative Assembly like a Private enterprise? .
I can deduce from your writing that your level of frustration and psychological uprightness is crumbling and near breaking point and for this reason you need urgent rehabilitation before its late.
If you do think Weldios University Benin will yield to your empty call and withdraw Dr. Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba’s Honorary doctorate degree, then you must be day dreaming because no amount pressure from brats like you will ever produce anything tangible.
Transparency and Accountability is an integral pillar of the Speaker’s administration.
She understands one best way to promote Transparency and Accountability in the National Assembly is to communicate openly and frequently with the Members of Parliament, other leaders, and Stakeholders, sharing her Vision, Mission, Values, and Objectives.
As head of the Parliament, Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba explains to the law makers how they can align these with their actions, decisions, and results.
Dr. Nunu Kumba provides timely updates, information, and feedback on a regular basis, and invite questions, comments, and suggestions not only from legislators but from support staff and other stakeholders and she is always quick to address any concerns or issues affecting the Parliament and its Employees.
Your shameless and ludicrous claim of autocratic and dictatorial tendencies and the speaker’s targeting of Members of Parliament for questioning her authority is the most unintelligent and nitwit fabrication you have brought against the jolly, modest and infallible Speaker.
If you think you have what it takes to bring down the Speaker through your tramped-up charges then you must be joking, do you know how much this women you have insulted and humiliated sacrificed for this Country?
You and your bunch of crooks must stop fueling a crisis with a sole intention to dislodge her and raze-down the hard gains the National Legislative Assembly has witnessed under her pragmatic leadership. Your bitterness and abhorrence against the speaker are a waste of time.
You have talked about your suspension from Parliament recently. It’s indeed true you were suspended for framing similar baseless and unfounded corruption charges against the Speaker in which you claimed she embezzled Public funds and when you were asked to produce evidence you failed to do so, instead you hurried to file a lawsuit against her in the East Africa Court of Justice, accusing her of unlawfully suspending you.
So tell me how much you have achieved from this ‘dirty pool’?.
You will not achieve anything because your heart and mind is wicked, you have nothing good for this country other than to destroy it.
Speaker, Dr.Jemma Nunu Kumba holds close to her heart the welfare of the Parliamentarians, benefits and salaries are their rights to improve productivity and fetch positive reputation leading to a more engaged and committed workforce, contributing to the overall success and growth of the National Parliament.
Your claim about neglect and delay in payment of benefits and salaries of law makers is not true, the speaker is always on toes to ensure timely payments of benefits, however if delays does occur in the procession of salaries and benefits, it doesn’t imply MPs are being deliberately denied their rights, it doesn’t mean funds are being diverted for parliamentary construction projects.
When civil servant’s salaries delay its not the speaker to blame, it’s not intentional but circumstances beyond control.
Another thing you should understand is that Parliament is a Policy maker not an implementer, the National Assembly under the Speaker’s sole guidance makes policies for the Executive to implement to safeguard public interest . So the Speaker doesn’t move from one institution to the other paying salaries but makes the policies to ensure timely salary payment.
As a learned MP yourself, I expected you to know this reality. Unfortunately you are so dumb, all you do is ranting sarcasm at the Speaker to achieve your selfish interest and that of your group.
It is not so long ago when you and your group fabricated another empty charge against the Speaker, claiming she deliberately refused to authorize Parliament to approve the 400% civil servants adjusted salary structure. You went as far as inciting the organized forces to storm Parliament. Are you really normal?
The truth was after Cabinet endorsed the 400% increment, it took quite a while for it to be tabled in Parliament, so the time you were mobilizing the masses against her, the draft new salary structure was yet to be tabled in the National assembly.
The Speaker’s voluminous signs of effective service delivery are within reach and sight, the current Parliamentary building you and others sit in to legislate laws and execute oversight roles over the Executive wasn’t in the present elegant shape.
Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba has done exceedingly fabulous job giving the Parliament not just a new and sophisticated look but a Universally matched standard.
The Parliament Restaurant in which you and your group sit to fill your tummy with delicious meals is another attestation of her effective service delivery, Juba One Basketball Academy court, Buluk playing ground and Nimra-Talata basketball court are few examples of her tremendous and infinite accomplishment as Speaker.
It’s laughable and callous of you to accuse Rt.Hon. Speaker, Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba of being unconcerned about effective service delivery when the whole country and Universe can clearly see and feel her outstanding development.
Her vision is very clear, to transform the National Assembly to a supreme, effective, efficient, and self-sustaining Parliament as a major participant in the process of good governance in the Republic of South Sudan.
Even a pupil has to work hard to earn high grades to be promoted to the next class, so how is it an offence for the Speaker to enrich her Curriculum Vitea(CV) through education to prepare her for more leadership responsibilities? . Your heart is inundated with envy and jealousy, and this will destroy you some day if you don’t seek the services of a counsellor at the earliest.
I could go on and on but unfortunately your dimwit mind is possessed with crafting negativity so it’s useless sharing with you more amazing news of her fantastic work.
All Parliamentary procurements and contracts are within the procurements laws and are approved by the National Assembly . Your forgery without evidence that the Speaker and clerk manage all contracts ignoring chains of procurement process is absurd and irrational.
Speaker, Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba embraces political pluralism and multipartyism. She works in a peaceful and collegial manner with all political party representatives in Parliament without suppression of speech, public communication, or other information as you explicated in your letter.
You front one allegation after the other without a single justification. It’s so abstract and vague to accuse the Speaker of intimidation, suspension, and dismissal from Parliament of staff and civil servants who demanded for their delayed payments, yet you could not provide evidence, doesn’t this make you a black liar?
My advice to you is to learn to make fair and balanced argument always .Your one sided and half-barked assertions in the letter shows you were not prepared and well informed about the subject matter.
In conclusion, Rt.Hon. Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is a loyal, committed, hardworking and patriotic senior member of SPLM who dedicated her life to serve the party and the entire people of South Sudan.
She is a successful and patient comrade who had been in SPLM since 1991, the year she abandoned her studies and joined the people’s movement at kidepo valley in the Eastern Equatoria State.
She is a career politician with over twenty-seven years of political experience in various fields at the National, Regional, and Continental levels. She has served in several positions during the liberation war, after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and after the Independence of South Sudan.
Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba is one of the patriots who played tremendous role in the liberation struggle that resulted into the birth of the Republic of South Sudan.
So with her years of distinguished public service and philanthropy, her Honorary Doctorate degree is a well-deserved recognition commensurate with her outstanding, protracted years of public service.
Does Juol Nhomngek know how many prominent personalities in South Sudan own Honorary Doctorate degrees. Did you as well lambast and write for cancellation of their awards.
It’s abundantly clear you have personal grudge with the Speaker which cannot be tolerated, and I would urge , you choose the path of peace, because peace and unity of all south sudanese regardless of our political, ethnic, and religious belongings is paramount for the prosperity of the Country.
I see futility and hopelessness in your endeavor because it will end in abyss, you are chasing wind so better redirect your energy to something useful and productive.
Dr. Jemma Nunu Kumba, is a Speaker of the people, listening and caring leader, who is open to public ideas on how to continue to move things to greater heights.
Otherwise throwing stones is never a solution . Be part of the solution to the challenges facing the Country example flooding, intercommunal violence, price hikes among others but don’t be part of the challenges.