OPP members of House committees announced
The speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba, announced the appointments of whips, chairpersons, and deputy chairpersons of the specialised committees of the Other Political Parties (OPP) on Wednesday.
Nunu made the announcement at Freedom Hall during the fifth ordinary sitting of the year when MPs from Unity State’s Koch County and Jonglei State’s Ayod County presented motions on environmental pollution caused by oil exploration in their areas of jurisdiction.
OPP includes three primary groups, the Alliance, Umbrella, and four non-group political parties that have signed the pact on their own.
One of the members appointed was Taban Luka Guya who was picked as the whip of the National Agenda. Others were Wilson Lodiong Sebit (chairperson of the standing committee for trade and industry-Alliance), Joseph Kiju Rombek ( OPP whip), Badi Dak (deputy chairperson of the special mining committee for Umbrella), Dr Stanislaus Wani (chairperson of special committee for peace and reconciliation-National Agenda); Yur Achan Angok (chairperson, special committee for wildlife conservation and tourism-Umbrella); Yur Achan Angok (chairperson, special committee for wildlife conservation and tourism-Umbrella); Yur Achan Angok (chairperson of the special committee for wildlife conservation and tourism-Umbrella) and Yur Achan Angok (chair).
Albino Akol Atak, the deputy chairperson of Alliance who is also the spokesperson of OPP, was appointed the deputy chairperson of the committee on agriculture and food security, while David William Tut from Alliance was picked as the deputy chairperson of the special committee on regional integration and East African affairs. The chairperson of the specialised committee on culture, museums, and heritage was Regina Akul Bol, as Johnson Olam Nyikech of DC’s party was picked as the deputy chairperson for water resources and irrigation. Paskalina Philip Wadeng was picked as the deputy chairperson of the committee for federal affairs. This marks the full formation of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly structure.
“Now that the committees are completely established, we should be up to the task of handling the responsibility that has been entrusted to us by the peace agreement and the Republic of South Sudan’s transitional constitution,” the speaker stated.
The chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of the special committees of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (IG) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition were named when members of the OPP and SSOA went missing in early January due to internal disagreements. The disagreements in OPP were from disputes that marred the nomination process for the third deputy speaker.
Later, SSOA committee chairpersons and deputy chairpersons were announced, keeping OPP out of the specialised committee structure.
When the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of the committees assigned to SPLM and SPLM-IO were announced, OPP told The City Review that they could not submit a list of their members until the third deputy speaker, who is also from OPP, was appointed.
The third deputy speaker, however, was ultimately announced on March 28, 2022, only two weeks before the OPP members of the specialised committees were announced yesterday.
