JUBA – President Salva Kiir is expected to address the nation next week, Minister of Presidential Affairs Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin has said.
Reports emerged on Monday that the president was to address Members of Parliament in the Reconstituted Transitional National Legislative Assembly (R-TNLA) in Freedom Hall today during the first session since the lawmakers took the oath of office in August 2.
However, Dr. Barnaba told City Review yesterday in an interview that the president’s address of the nation had been rescheduled to next week.
“The address of the nation will be next week. It is not on Tuesday [today] as you are expecting,” Dr. Barnaba confirmed.
Nonetheless, Dr. Barnaba did not diverge further information on why the address had been pushed forward.
In a separate interview, the Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek Ateny confirmed the plan to prepare for the state of the nation address but did not give much more information on the planned date.
“The preparation is going on for the President to address the nation next week but [the exact] day and date will be announced and will reach everybody through letters and media,” Ateny said.
On July 9, while addressing the nation on the 10th anniversary of independence, President Kiir promised citizens that he will not return the country to war.
He appealed to politicians and partners to work together to cover the last decade and put the country back on the path of development in the new decade.
In his remark also, Kiir said full implementation of power-sharing was a priority area to stabilize the nation and ensure economic growth.
However, recently, fierce fighting broke between the SPLM/A-IO factions. The internal split within the SPLM/A-IO as one of the main principal parties to the revitalized peace agreement has kept citizens doubtful of the prospect of the ongoing peace implementation.
Rampant road ambushes in the country are also expected to be on the list of items the president will tackle during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on a date yet to be announced.
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