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August 6, 2011 (JUBA) — South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit Friday issued presidential decree appointing Atem Garang as the Chief Whips of the parliament as a women was elected by its peers as additional deputy speaker.
- Atem Garang (file photo)
Atem, who formerly served as the Deputy Speaker in the Khartoum-based National Assembly is appointed by President Kiir , as government’s Chief Whip in the national legislative assembly, a third position after the deputy speaker, Daniel Awet Akot.
The presidential decree was an intervention to end the power wrangling between Garang and Akot over the position of the deputy. Kiir earlier on issued a decree removing Bangot Amum Okiech, a sister to the SPLM SG Pagan Amum, who was elected to the position by parliament.
In western democracies the Chief Whips generally is the one who manages the vote and the discipline of the government party members of parliament.
In the British House of Commons the Chief Whips is a member of the cabinet and appointed usually as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury.
However the government of South Sudan has already a minister of parliamentary affairs who channels also the messages of the government to the MPs.
In the USA, the Majority Whip who is elected by the majority party in the chambre has no official position due to the total separation between the executive and the legislative powers.
In a related development, the South Sudan’s national assembly has unanimously elected Fatma Nyawang Biliu as deputy speaker of the house, an additional deputy position allotted to women by the transitional constitution.
Nyawang, the newly elected second deputy speaker, was a former minister in Unity state and was elected to the South Sudan’s parliament in 2010. She was also popularly known as the first SPLM women representative during the formation of the movement in Ethiopia in 1983.
The MPs took oath of membership on Saturday following their confirmation and appointment by President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Monday.
James Wani Igga has maintained his position as the speaker together with the two deputies, Akot and Nyawang.
Kiir also appointed James Bol Chan as speaker of the new 50-member Council of States. He also appointed Joseph Oleer as deputy speaker and Atem Gualdit as the Chief Whip at the upper house.
Under normal circumstances, the leadership in parliament is always removed and elected by the Mps. However the transitional constitution gives the president the powers to fire elected officials and appoint new ones.
On August 01, the president issued a decree and merged the membership of the previous parliament in Juba with the addition of the South Sudanese members coming from the National Assembly in Khartoum.
The Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly had 170 elected members while those who were elected to the Khartoum’s National Assembly were 96 in number. The President has also appointed 66 more members to the National Legislative Assembly, making the total membership 332.
There were 20 South Sudanese members of the Council of States from Khartoum and 30 more appointed members, making the total 50. The two houses have the total membership of 382.
About 20% of the additional appointees come from other political parties. South Sudan has 23 political parties, but only five parties have had their members appointed to the new bicameral national parliament.
(ST)
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