The current parliament building in Juba | Credit | Eye Radio

The Minister of Information has justified why he rejected summon by the parliamentary committee, saying the current parliament has no mandate.

“The government and the executive is a revitalized government [that] is not answerable to the current parliament,” Michael Makuei told reporters on Tuesday.

In a letter dated 8 January 2021, the Chairperson of Information Committee, Hon Paul Yoane decided to summon Michael Makuei and two other senior government officials over matters concerning their dockets.

They were requested to appear before the committee six days later – Jan 14.

According to Makuei, he was called to appear before the committee to explain what they called “The mysterious disappearance or the whereabouts of the tallest SSBC antenna in Juba.”

However, Makuei declined to appear before the committee, arguing that the current Transitional National Legislative Assembly is on recess.

He says, he will only appear before the yet-to-be reconstituted peace parliament

“I am answerable to R-TNLA; and as long they are on recess, they will continue with the recess until that time when the parliament is expanded and reconstituted according to the provisions of power-sharing,” he added.

According the revitalized peace agreement, the current parliament is supposed to be replaced by the reconstituted TNLA by the end of the pre-transitional period, which has already elapsed.

The international community and development partners have accused the executive of running the peace government without the legislature.

They called upon the executive to expedite the reconstitution of the R-TNLA.

“The Revitalized Legislative Assembly has to be formed without any further delay, in order to make possible both the routine governance decisions – such as a long-delayed national budget- and the important reforms foreseen by the peace agreement,” said European Union ambassador in South Sudan  Christian Bader on November 16, 2020.