The Other Political Parties (OPP) have said President Salva Kiir’s office is the one delaying the appointment of the third deputy speaker of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) as they forwarded the name of their nominee since last year.

The spokesperson of the OPP, Albino Akol Atak, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that the appointment of the third deputy speaker of the TNLA was even supposed to happen before the appointment of chairpersons of specialized committees and that his group nominated Kornelio Kon Ngu, the leader of the National Alliance of Political Parties.

He said the most important issue was OPP’s nomination of the third deputy speaker of TNLA and that according to the peace agreement; OPP is to name the office bearer.

“This was supposed to have happened even before the nomination of the chairpersons of the specialized committees. We as OPP nominated our candidate for the position a long time ago but he has not been appointed,” Akol said. “We agreed on our nominee and gave the name to the head of the National Transitional Committee, Tut Gatluak, who was to forward it to President Salva Kiir for approval. The president is then supposed to give the name to the speaker of parliament to be sworn in.”

He added: “We did all these steps but the process stopped and froze in the office of the president. So we are also wondering where the problem is concerning this issue because the peace deal is very clear on this issue.”

The OPP mouthpiece appealed to President Kiir to send the name of their nominee for the position of third deputy speaker to the speaker of parliament for swearing-in because as it is, parliament is not fully constituted because the OPP representative to the leadership of the house is not in place to participate in decision making. 

“We have asked what is causing the delay but all we get is that the issue will be resolved. If there is a problem, they should tell us,” Akol said. “Hon. Kornelia Kon is our nominee and we forwarded the name long ago, before May last year. In the past, we have had disagreements in the OPP on various issues but we unanimously agreed in our nomination of Hon. Don for the position of third deputy speaker.”

On why the OPP nominees to chairpersons of specialized committees were not named with the ones of SPLJM and SPLM-IO on Monday, Akol said there were consultations ongoing among the parties that make up OPP and that it is was not a big deal. 

“The issue is not that we have a big problem as OPP but the truth is that we have some consultations going on. As OPP, we were given 3 positions for the chairpersons and deputies of the specialized committees. In the revitalized peace agreement, OPP was given 8 percent in the power-sharing matrix,” Akol said. “So, In the transitional national assembly, out of 35 positions of the specialized committees, OPP will get 3.”

He added: “These positions have to be divided among the different parties that make up the OPP. We have distributed the positions among the parties and some of them have already sent back the names of their nominees but others are still in the process. I am sure it will be completed by today (Wednesday) or tomorrow.”