Following the dismissal of the first list submitted by parties to the agreement, President Salva Kiir reconstituted the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) in May and pronounced the names of nominees to the new parliament in republican degree red on the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Cooperation (SSBC).

The stipulation of the 2018 peace agreement reached by parties to end the violence in the Republic of South Sudan was fulfilled with the reconstitution of the parliament.

The TNLA and the Council of States were reconstituted just days after Kiir dissolved the previous 400-member parliament and expanded it to 550 members in accordance with the peace agreement, including MPs from the country’s rival parties to establish a unified parliament.

The Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) is made up of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) and the Council of States, according to Article 1.14 sub-article (1) of the peace agreement.

Subarticle (2) called for the TNLA to be reformed and extended to five hundred and fifty (550) members. TGoNU has three hundred and thirty-two (332) members, SPLM/A-IO has one hundred and twenty-eight (128) members, SSOA has fifty (50) members, OPP has thirty (30), and FDs has ten (10) members.

Vice President Dr James Wani Igga, Vice President Taban Deng Gai, and the presidential advisor on security matters were among the appointees to the parliament.

President Kiir has reformed eight of the ten-state assemblies, as well as three administrative areas. The destiny of the two-state legislatures that remain is unknown.

The parliament, which was meant to be reconstituted along with the executive part of the government within the pre-transitional period of eight months after signing the agreement, took two years to form after the peace deal was signed.

Even after the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) in February 2020, it took nearly a year for the president to re-establish the TNLA, despite the impact the power vacuum had on the executive branch’s ability to legislate and pass laws in the country, including the budget.

The TNLA has yet to debate and pass spending bills approved by the executive arm of the government, including the fiscal year budget for 2021-2022 and constitutional amendment bills 8 and 9. It has been nearly four months since the parliament was inaugurated in August of this year.

Several calls have been made since the inception of the new government to dissolve the existing 400-member parliament and form a new one.

With over 500 MPs in need of re-election, Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek Ateny noted in a statement in May that even the budget for the upcoming election in 2023 is still missing, and that legislative approval is required for it to happen.

Because of the oversight function, it plays in supervising the two arms of the government, the parliament’s rebuilding has been long overdue, with high expectations from both citizens and the international community

The TNLA, on the other hand, has reviewed and passed the conduct of business regulations that govern the house’s usual operations, including the deliberation and adoption of the president’s speech on August 30th.

In an inaugural speech to the parliament in August, Kiir pushed parliamentarians to speed up the legislative process, emphasizing the importance of having a functioning parliament to the full implementation of the peace deal.

 “That is why there was a huge sigh of relief when you took oath on the 2^nd of August, 2021. The relief came because the delay in the process of reconstituting the TNLA was a matter of serious concern to our citizens and partners, especially those tasked with monitoring the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement” said President Kiir.

Among the bills adopted by the cabinet, Kiir emphasized that the national budget be treated as an urgent priority by the parliament in order to prevent the country from functioning without a budget.

 “Since February 2020, your counterparts in the executive have been working. Most of the files they have worked on require your review and approval before they can move forward. Today I am drawing your attention to these files to ensure that they top your legislative agenda” he said.

 “One of such files is the national budget. It has already been debated and approved by the cabinet and it awaits your discussion and final approval. I urge you to take up this as a matter of urgency because the country cannot any longer afford to operate without an approved budget,” Kiir emphasized.

So far, the parliament has summoned a number of ministers in response to the country’s flood emergency. Ministers of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, health, water and irrigation, and the environment, as well as the head of the relief and rehabilitation commission, were among those present.

They also summoned the minister of commerce and investment, the governor of the Central Bank, and the chairwoman of the national bureau of standards to respond to questions about rising commodity prices and the entrance of sub-standard items into the country.

Only two ministers, humanitarian affairs and disaster management minister Peter Mayen and health minister Elizabeth Achuei, have responded to the summons after one month.

Both Peter Mayen and Elizabeth appointed their undersecretaries to represent them last week on Monday, but the parliament rejected their requests because undersecretaries are not allowed to address the parliament by law, despite the fact that the parliament has the authority to summon anyone in the government.

Mayen and Elizabeth then appeared before parliament on Tuesday to give their reports, but they were both sent back to produce enough copies of their reports for members of parliament to follow along with when they were giving their presentations.

 “It is their role to become familiar with these documents. It is also the responsibility of the leadership of the parliament to write clear messages to the ministers, ” one of the MPs John Sebit urged the ministers to familiarize themselves with the regulations of the assembly.

Another MP stated that any minister summoned by the parliament must provide enough copies of their presentation for each MP to retain 30 minutes before the start of the house’s session.

 “Any oral presentation cannot be followed keenly and how shall we make references to whatever they are going to present? We are not dictionaries; we are going to keep everything in our mind,” she stressed.

The legislators were concerned about the ministers in the case that they threatened to call a vote of no confidence if they did not comply with the parliamentary summons, claiming contempt of parliament as a reason.

Victor Omowa, an MP from Eastern Equatoria State, criticised the assembly’s leadership for condoning ministerial non-cooperation when they were summoned.

“So there is a room for us to discipline our minsters. Let us not leave them. Why should we wait for a minister to give us information? And by the way, when a motion is urgent; it doesn’t need to take one month. This was a mistake by you, the leadership,” he emphasized, as he addressed the speaker.

Another member, Gatwech Lam Pouch, advised ministers to put parliamentary summons ahead of any other function of their ministries or risk being impeached by the legislature.

 “For us to maintain our dignity as members of the parliament from now, we have to sharpen our teeth because the conduct of business has given us that if any minister refuses to come to the parliament based on regulations 117 and 118 read together with article 117, 118 and regulation 89 in the conduct of business, we shall cash a vote of no confidence from any minister this time around.’’ He warned.

Until now, the Transitional National Assembly’s specialized committees, which are the house’s engine, have not been fully formed, making it difficult for legislators to enact some of the bills that the cabinet has already approved.