An allegation that members of the Central Equatoria State Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) caucus boycotted a discussion on the presidential speech was strongly refuted by one of the caucus members during Wednesday’s Transitional National Legislative Assembly sitting.
Honorable Fasto Lemi Sominda, a lawmaker representing Juba County, rose on a point of information to address what he called “unfounded, criminalized, baseless, [and] totally untrue” allegations.
He stated that the caucus did not boycott the session but instead had a scheduling conflict.
According to Hon. Sominda, the Central Equatoria SPLM caucus, led by its chairperson Joyce Dusman, had a pre-arranged meeting with the newly appointed SPLM Secretary General.
“We went and met the newly appointed SG at 8:30. We congratulated him and then we ended at 9:30,” he explained.
He clarified that following the meeting, the members returned to the assembly and attended the discussions on the presidential speech.
He stressed that all members who were meant to speak, including three ministers, were present, describing the allegations as an attempt to “criminalize our caucus.”
In response to the urgent concern, Speaker Parmena Awerialadvised Hon. Sominda to take the matter to his caucus chairperson, stating that it was an internal issue for the Central Equatoria caucus to resolve.
Speaker Awerial suggested that the caucus could issue a formal statement to the media to clarify the situation, confirming that the matter was not yet a concern for the entire house.
He added that the issue should be “handled by the Chairperson of the Caucus of Central Equatorial.”
