The SPLM Party has settled on the minister of parliamentary affairs and acting secretary-general Jemma Nunu Kumba as the speaker of the Revitalised Transitional National Legislative Assembly (RTNLA).

The party also picked Mary Ayen Majok as the deputy speaker of the council of states and Awerial Aluang as the second deputy speaker of the RTNLA.

The Revitalised Agreement for Resolution of Conflict in South (R-ARCSS) of 2018 stipulates that the party with the majority of members, in this case, SPLM, is to nominate a speaker of the house. The SPLM-IO, which is the second party in terms of numbers is to nominate the first deputy.

President Salva Kiir was to chair the extraordinary meeting of the SPLM members that were recently appointed to the Reconstituted National Legislative Assembly and council of states on Friday morning.

The meeting was televised on the state-run SSBC for some period of time but the agenda of the meeting remained a secret. But some unverified media reports revealed the ruling party could be contemplating electing a speaker of the national assembly.

The announcement, which was also run on Facebook, requested all members attending the meeting to wear the SPLM uniform of the party.

President Kiir reconstituted the national legislative assembly and council of states back in May 2021 as part of the restructuring under the 2018 peace agreement.