By Alan Clement
The Transitional National Legislative Assembly, in its 13th ordinary sitting on Tuesday, adjourned the parliamentary session due to the absence of members from the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission and the National Transitional Committee.
The session was scheduled to discuss the Joint Committee of Peace and Reconciliation and the Committee of Legislation and Justice reports on R-JMEC’s assessment of the implementation of the 2018 peace deal for October to December 2024, and another for July to September 2024.
During the sitting, some lawmakers urged the Assembly to proceed with deliberations; however, others challenged that the absence of R-JMEC, NTC and Ministry of Peace officials undermined the process.
Peter Lomude Francis argued that the reports due for deliberation were already the property of the Assembly.
“This report was already tabled by the R-JMEC, and it becomes a property of this house to deliberate over it,” he said.
“If you can read the provisions of the agreement, the NTC don’t report to this house. It is the R-JMEC that reports to this house. So, I think it is right for us to proceed,” Lomude stressed.
However, other lawmakers cautioned against moving forward without the relevant stakeholders present.
Victor Omuho Ohide, an MP from Eastern Equatoria State, said their absence would undermine accountability.
“When we go on discussing these things in the absence of the R-JMEC or the relevant, even the Ministry of Peace, they should be here. When questions arise, who is going to answer those questions?” Ohide asked.
He argued that deliberating in the absence of key stakeholders would violate parliamentary norms and hinder meaningful engagement.
“Yes, we have the procedure, the standing procedure for this parliament. And that is why when we were presenting the other bilateral agreements, the ministers concerned were there so that they [could] answer questions,” he explained.
Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba, who presided over the session, ruled in favour of adjournment, and she affirmed the need for participation from those who submitted the reports.
“Are they not supposed to be there? Because they have to listen to the report,” Nunu said.
“That is the decision of the house that these two reports should be discussed in the presence of those who brought them here, including the Ministry of Peace,” she added.
The adjournment underscored ongoing procedural tensions within the Assembly as it grapples with oversight of the peace implementation process.
Kumba directed that the deliberations on reports will be held once the relevant bodies that were absent during Monday’s proceedings appear before the parliamentarians.