By Philip Buda Ladu
Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) on Monday unanimously passed Tourism Bill 2024 from its third and final reading stages.
It now awaits the president’s assent into law.
The bill was first presented to the TNLA in 2023 by the Minister of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism for scrutiny and further approval.
Following its presentation to the August House, the bill was then committed to the committees of Wildlife Conservation and Tourism, the Committee of Justice, and legislation at the parliament.
Thereafter, the committee tabled its scrutinized report back to the house in the second reading stage and passed it to the third reading stage.
Wilson Lodiong, the chairperson of the committee on wildlife conservation and tourism, tabled the bill in its third reading stage, with all the recommendations and amendments from the second reading stage incorporated for the honorable members’ approval.
The bill has 10 chapters that deal with all matters related to tourism in the Republic of South Sudan.
However, the 1st deputy speaker of the TNLA, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, interjected during the sitting that the house should not have rushed to pass the bill from its third and final reading stages without MPs’ proper deliberations, saying it’s his first time to reading the report.
Reacting to Oyet’s sentiments, the parliament spokesperson slammed those MPs who claimed the bill was not widely circulated earlier for members to read and understand.
Mori clarified that the MPs had copies of the third reading stage report of the bill with them, and they read it thoroughly.
“The honorable members concurred with the report that they have read, and they thought there was no need to waste more time on a bill that was discussed in the first and second reading stages with an explanation even from the minister concerned,” Mori explained.
Rt. Hon. Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba, speaker of the house, ruled that the majority of the members present for the quorum unanimously agreed to pass the bill for assent into law by the president.